


Finding Reality

by luckandillusions



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-29
Updated: 2015-02-13
Packaged: 2017-11-27 10:25:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 39,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/660877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckandillusions/pseuds/luckandillusions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Wendy Darling was brought to Neverland on accident, it quiet literally saved her life. But when Captain Hook offers to take her off the island, she accepts and is drawn into a quest beyond making it back to the Upper East Side. She never planned on getting attached, but as she stays on board the Jolly Roger, she realizes that maybe Killian Jones isn't the man she thought he was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I looked around the Lost Boys' camp only to find it in shambles again. It seemed that every time they finished repair Hook's crew would come in again and try to fight them. The pirates had gotten more daring in recent weeks and had been attacking more and more frequently and personally I was tired of it.

"Wendy!" Felix called. I turned to face him and noticed a large cut running down the side of his face.

"Whoa, come on let's get you checked out. Is anyone else hurt?" I asked.

"No, but Peter's missing."

"Peter can take care of himself," I assured him. I led Felix back to my tent where I had several kinds of medicine; a perk of having a doctor for a father in my world, he was always making me carry a fully stocked first aid kit cause I never knew when someone would get hurt. I unloaded my pack and began cleaning his cut. The other boys filed in a few minutes later and I counted them all quickly. "Where's Devin?" I asked.

"He went to check the traps," one of the twins told me.

"He always misses the fights," the other twin finished.

"Right, of course."

"Are we going after Peter?" James asked pulling one of his springy curls with a worried look on his face.

"I am going after Peter, you all are staying here."

"Aw man," the twins said in sync.

"Stay here and start cleaning up," I told them all. I began packing my bags and getting ready to head out. I walked out of the tent and glanced over my shoulder at the boys who were looking a little too calm. "I mean it, stay here." Felix followed me outside and stopped me.

"You've gotta let me come with you Wendy!" Felix begged, he had always been the closest to Peter.

"You're the oldest of the boys, you need to stay here and take care of them while I'm gone. It'll be quicker if it's just me, if you came with me I'd worry about you too much."

"I can fight!"

"I know you can, you wouldn't have gotten all those battle scars if you couldn't. It doesn't change anything, stay here and take care of the others. That's an order."

"Aye aye, Captain," Felix said rolling his eyes.

"Now go on, I'll see you in a few days."

OoOoO

It took me hours to walk to the shore where Captain Hook's ship was anchored. By the time I arrived I was much too tired to actually swim out to the ship and stage a rescue mission. I missed cars, and motor boats and airplanes. It had only been a few months since I left my world but it seemed like years. I made camp in the trees not far off and tried to scope out the ship but couldn't see much from this distance, a nice pair of binoculars would come in handy right about now.

The following morning I woke up before dawn and walked down to the shore. I didn't have to worry about swimming out to the ship because Hook was waiting on me on the beach. I drew my sword, which Peter had taught me how to use in my time here, and held it out. "Tsk, tsk, no need for that now, Darling."

"Where's Peter?" I asked not lowering my weapon.

"Back on the ship, of course we'll return him to you soon. We just wanted to shake him up a bit. I'd like to negotiate with you."

"I don't bargain with pirates," I said.

"How do you know you don't if you've never tried?" He asked.

"What do you want, Hook?" I asked.

"I want you on my ship."

"What?" I asked a bit taken aback.

"You heard me. Everyone knows Wendy Moira Darling, the daring swords master from a distant world, blah blah you've heard the stories I'm sure. You've only been here a few months but word does travel fast, fairies love to gossip I'm afraid."

"I'll make you a deal. You agree to not only let Peter go but leave him, the lost boys and everyone else in Neverland alone and I'll join your crew."

He thought it over. "Deal."

"Really?" I asked shocked. He winked at me and motioned me to follow him into a small boat to go back to his ship. He offered me a hand so I didn't fall. We rode in silence towards the ship and when we got there his men tied us off. A ladder was thrown over the side and we climbed up.

"Welcome aboard," Hook said when we reached the deck.

"It's a pirate's life for me," I mumbled. No one laughed Pirates of the Caribbean joke but Hook glanced at me curiously. "Where's Peter?" I asked.

"Right there," Hook said motioning towards a door where one of the sailors was leading Peter up. "I'm sure he can fly his way off to shore, we have places to be."

"What's he talking about Wendy?" Peter asked glancing at me. I looked away. "Wendy?"

"I'm not staying with you Peter."

"That's ridiculous, of course you are," he said. I shook my head.

"You need to get back to the Lost Boys. I left Nibs in charge; you need to go make sure he hasn't destroyed camp or something," I tried to joke but it fell flat. "Look, Peter, you can't convince me to go back. There's nothing I can do there that will help me go home, maybe with the pirates I'll be able to." I tried to be as blunt as possible, I didn't want to hurt Peter but if that was the only way to keep him safe then it's what I'd have to do. "You really need to go." He looked at me one last time before flying back to the island.

"Good job," Hook said patting me on the shoulder. "Join me in my cabin, would you? We need to talk." Raise the anchor!" He yelled to his crew. He motioned for me to follow him. He held the door open for me and I walked inside. He sat behind a desk and I sat in one of the chairs in front. "You told Peter you wanted to go home." It wasn't a question but he raised his eyebrow as if it was.

"Of course I want to go home," I said.

He nodded. "I might know of a way that can happen, and it will be mutually beneficial to both of us. You see I believe I need to travel to your world."

I laughed. "What could you possibly want to do in my world? In case you hadn't figured it out, it's really nothing like here. There aren't any pirates for one thing."

"I don't plan on staying there long; I just need to go for a little visit."

"I'm sorry but I don't think I can help you unless I know what you want. Sending you off to my world to run free probably won't end well for anyone."

"I can see you're going to need to hear a story," he said.

"Calling it a story makes it seem like you're going to tell a lie," I said.

"What if I called it a history? My history. But it's late and we'll have plenty of time tomorrow. Before you go let me properly introduce myself, my name is Killian Jones."

OoOoO

The next day one of the sailors knocked on my door to tell me that Hook had requested my presence at lunch in his cabin. I left my room and went across the ship to his cabin. "Good afternoon, Hook."

"Killian," he reminded me. I didn't make an effort to correct myself; I didn't feel comfortable calling him by any other name.

"So you told me you were going to tell me your story," I said.

"Indeed I am. Where to begin…"

"At the beginning?" I suggested.

He laughed. "If I started at the beginning that would be a dreadfully long and boring story. I should tell you that this is a love story."

I snorted. "You're kidding me right? I don't believe you. The big and terrible Captain Hook has a love story to tell?"

"I promise I wouldn't lie to you. Anyways, I wasn't always so terrible." He smirked. "Ok, I may have always been a little terrible."

I rolled my eyes. "The story?"

"Right. By this point I had already been a pirate for some time, my crew and I stopped in some small town that we chose by chance. As usual we went to a bar to have a few drinks, mingle with the locals, and see what kind of stories are going around. This time was different, there was a woman." I rolled my eyes again but he ignored me and kept going. "Her name was Milah, she was married but she wanted to leave him."

"Because heaven forbid you stay out of trouble for once," I said.

"I'm always in trouble," he said. "We only knew each other for a few days, but when these things happen you know. We came up with a plan to leave town without her husband finding out but a woman from her village saw Milah getting on my ship and told Milah's husband. He came to my ship before we left to get her back."

"And that's how you lost your hand," I said.

"Are you going to let me tell my own story?" He asked. I motioned for him to go on. "Milah's husband was a coward and he wouldn't fight for her, he left my ship without her and so Milah and I were free to go off together." I started to say something but he cut me off. "I'm getting to the good part. A few years passed and I happened to stop in the same town as Milah's husband, but when we met this time he'd changed. I don't know if you've heard of the Dark One here in Neverland but in my world he was known for all the horrible things he did to people who got in his way."

"Wait, you aren't from Neverland?" I asked.

"No, I am not, my world is different. Rumplestiltskin, that was Milah's husband's name, confronted me and asked about his wife. I lied at told him she was dead. He challenged me to a duel to finish the one we started."

"And that's when-" He cut me off.

"If you don't stop interrupting we will never get through this," He snapped. "Of course he had magic; I was no match for him. He was about to kill me but Milah had followed me and she told her husband what had happen and why she'd left. She stole something he wanted and made a bargain with him for our lives. He came with us to the ship to get what belonged to him, he and Milah got in an argument and he killed her right in front of me. I refused to give him what he wanted so to get it from my hand he cut it off. That's how I became Hook."

I stared at him. "I'm so sorry."

"It was a long time ago."

"He didn't get what he wanted though, did he?" I asked.

"No, it was in my other hand. I used the magic bean to come here."

"Magic bean? Like Jack and the Beanstalk magic beans?"

"Exactly like that. There are a lot of thing you need to learn about my world."

"And there are a lot of things you need to know about mine."

"So you'll help me?" He asked.

"After a story like that how could I not? I'll help you get revenge on Rumplestiltskin."

OoOoO

Every day after that I ate lunch with Hook. We talked about his world and my world and he told me stories about people who seemed so much like the people in the fairytale books I had read as a kid, except these stories were real and most of them were horrible versions of the pretty Disney movies I'd grown up with. I told him about computers and cell phones and he stared at me like I was the one telling a fairytale. "So you're telling me that there is a box where I can find anything I could ever possibly want anywhere in the world in just a few seconds?" He asked.

"Yes," I said. "You aren't going to believe me until you see one for yourself, are you? Hold on I'll be right back." I ran back to my cabin and grabbed my bag. I pulled my iPhone out of the pocket. "Let me see if this still has any battery power." I turned it on and then showed it to him. He didn't even touch it he just stared at it. I unlocked it and started flipping through my apps. "See I can play games, or use a calculator or look up words in the dictionary or talk to my friends."

"It's like a magic box," he said. His eyes were still wide. I rolled my eyes and snapped a picture of him. I turned it around to show him the photo and he jumped.

"Oh my god you are too cute." I turned it off so it wouldn't run down the battery and stashed it back in my bag.

"What else is in there?" He asked eyeing my bag suspiciously.

"Oh no, I don't think you can handle anything else today. I probably should've started you out with something simple like gum. I'll see you tomorrow, Hook."

With each day that passed I saw him less as a scary pirate and more as a normal guy, well maybe not normal in the regular sense of the word but he definitely didn't seem all that evil any more.

"What do you miss the most about your world, besides your family?" He asked one day.

"Um, I really miss the food. Like cheeseburgers, and barbecue and soda. When we get to my world we're going out to eat. No more of this ship food. We're going to get some super greasy, super unhealthy all American food. You'll love it trust me." He didn't look so sure.

"Can I look at the magic box again?" He asked.

"It's called a cell phone, but sure. Only for a few minutes though." I hadn't brought it out since the first time I'd shown it to him because I thought he might have another spaz. I turned it on and started showing him some pictures. "That's my new house; I just bought it a little bit before I ended up in Neverland."

"How did you end up in Neverland?" He asked.

"That's a story for another time," I said. I flipped to the next picture. "Those are my sorority sisters after graduation."

"You have a lot of sisters," he said.

"They aren't my real sisters, just my friends," I said shaking my head. "I'd love to just drop you in my world and see what happens."

His eyes widened. "No, I might get eaten by a cheeseburger."

I laughed. "Cheeseburgers aren't alive, Killian."

He smiled. "You finally called me Killian," he said.

"Yeah, I guess I did."


	2. Chapter 2

I was holding my phone showing Killian more pictures when the screen suddenly went black. "Oh," I said a little sadly. "The battery finally died." The last link to my old life was gone. I sighed and tucked it back in the front pocket of my bag. Eventually I'd be able to charge it; at least I hoped I'd be able to. I got up and walked over to the window and looked out over the ocean.

"Remembering flying with that annoying fairy?" Killian asked.

"I wasn't, but now I am," I said with a shudder.

"What? You don't like flying?"

"I'm not a big fan of heights," I admitted.

"How did Peter get you here then?"

"Mostly by force," I said shaking my head.

"Do you want to tell me the story now? We have lots of time," he said.

I leaned against the window again. "Did you know my middle name Moira means star of the sea? I was meant to be a pirate apparently."

"Wendy," he pressed.

"Fine, you want to hear my story? I jumped. I climbed up the clock tower on campus and I jumped. I thought the view would be a nice last thing to see before I died. Then Peter saved me and flew me to Neverland. I saw it as punishment for a while, I wanted to escape everything but instead I was stuck in the same place in my life forever."

"You tried to kill yourself?" He asked. I nodded. "I never thought about that. Even with everything that had happened in my life, dying never even crossed my mind."

"It was the most terrifying thing I've ever done. She would have killed me herself if she'd had the nerve, at least that's what I told myself when I was standing up there. She ruined my life so why wouldn't she just want to kill me too? But taking everything from someone and then forcing them to live with that is the worst kind of torture, I get that now. I'm not going to let her win this time; I'm not going to stay miserable." I became quieter and quieter until I finished in a voice barely above a whisper. Killian never asked who I was talking about or for any more of the story then what I was giving and I was grateful for that.

"If I take you back are you going to try again?" He asked after a long silence.

I shook my head. "I could've done it a thousand times on that island but I never did. I may have been ungrateful at the time but Peter really did save me."

"Good, because I'm not going to let you die on me, Darling."

OoOoO

Three Months Later

"Killian, I really don't think this is a good idea," I said eyeing the castle.

"Are you scared?" He teased.

"Yeah, obviously, I have a right to be!" I said. "I've heard the stories about this woman, she's insane!"

"If everything works out we won't even see her. We'll run upstairs, grab the girl and get back out."

"How do you know this girl even has the answers you need?" I asked.

"She was Rumplestiltskin's prisoner for a long time, if anyone has the answers I need it's her."

"What if the stories aren't even true about the curse?" I asked. "We really have no way of knowing that they aren't just rumors."

"You're not afraid of the queen," he said. "You're afraid that I'll back out on our deal if it turns out I don't need to go to your world after all. Isn't that right?" I didn't say anything. "After everything, you still don't trust me?"

"I barely know you, Hook!" I snapped. I hardly ever called him Hook anymore unless I was upset with him. He looked hurt for a moment before erasing it off his face and falling back into one of his usual smug expressions. "You're after revenge and you'll do anything to get it. If it's not convenient to you, you aren't going to go out of your way to help me."

"Even if they're just rumors, I'll take you home. I promise."

I wanted to yell at him that I didn't trust him and storm off own my own. I could take care of myself. But I couldn't find my own way home. I didn't know this world. I didn't know where to even begin looking for someone who could help me, Hook was my best bet. I was using him just as much as he was using me. That's why I trusted him. "What are we waiting for? Let's go."

He looked a little surprised but started walking towards the castle. "I'll distract the guards outside while you sneak in, don't forget-"

"To take out both the guards on the second floor and not just the one at the top of the stairs, I know. We've gone over this plan a hundred times, it's practically fool proof," I said, rolling my eyes.

He nodded. "I'll meet you upstairs." He stepped out of the trees and around the side of the building. I waited until I heard both the guards talking to Killian before slipping out and following. I stuck close to the building and was able to get to the door without being detected. I glanced at Killian and the guards who were arguing with him. The loud voices drowned out the sound of the door opening and closing but I knew the guards inside would hear it. I ran upstairs and drew my sword.

The first guard was easy, he hadn't been expecting me to be ready to fight and I cut him down quickly. The second lunged at me and I lost my grip on my sword, it flew out of my hand and down the steps behind me. I drew a dagger out of my boot and held it out, though it wasn't much match for his sword. I was going to have to be in closer range to stab him. I had never been a great knife thrower but I flung my dagger at him anyways, it hit him in the thigh but it wasn't enough to make him fall down. I was out of weapons and I tried to feel down the steps behind me to see if my sword was in reach. I was about to just lunge at him and hope that I could wrestle his sword away from him when there were footsteps on the stairs and Killian launched past me to stab the guard. I grabbed my sword from the steps before following him down the hallway.

"This is it," I said pointing to a door. He opened grabbed the key ring he must've stolen off one of the guards and let us in. There was a girl on the bed who looked up quite surprised. "Are you Belle?" I asked for conformation. She nodded slightly.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"We came to get you out of here," Killian said. "Your father is in danger."

"What?" She asked.

"The same man who took you now has your father," I said.

"Rumplestiltskin?"

"Yes, and we need your help to kill him," Killian said.

"I don't-" she started. "How am I supposed to know how to kill Rumplestiltskin? And even if I could, I wouldn't. I'm sure if you just let me talk to him I could sort things out."

I looked at Killian, his lead had been wrong. "Now what?" I asked, a bit snappily. He started to draw his sword. "No!"

"What?" He asked surprised.

"You can't kill her!"

"She's right," a voice said from behind us. We both turned to see a woman who I assumed must be the queen. I wanted to turn to Killian and tell him that I had been right and it was his fault we were probably going to die, but I was afraid to take my eyes off the queen. "Belle is not entirely useless." She motioned towards him and his sword arm swung down involuntarily. "Be a dear and put that thing away. I think it's best if we have a chat."

No one said anything as we walked the halls of the castle. A set of ornately decorated double doors flew open when we approached to reveal a large sitting room. One wall was lined with book shelves and another was an entire wall of windows. She gestured towards a settee "Tea?" She asked. A pot began pouring cups before we had a chance to say anything. "Sugar or milk, Wendy?" I started at my name. "Don't be surprised, I know everyone's name." The cup found its way into my hand.

"What is it you want to chat about?" Killian asked. I was glad one of us had found our voices.

"I think we can come to a mutually beneficial deal. I know what you want and I can help you get it."

"How do you propose that?" He asked. I swirled my tea in my cup but didn't drink, I couldn't be sure it wasn't poisoned.

"I think things have gotten a bit too boring around here, I want to change things up. I have plans to send the entire realm into another world, a world without magic." She looked at me. "Your world."

"You're going to send all these crazy things into my world?" I asked, finally speaking.

"Don't worry. Magical beings won't be quite so magical there, everyone will be human." She looked at Killian. "Without magic you can kill Rumplestiltskin without going through much trouble, he won't be able to pull out your heart or any other undesirable things like that."

"What's the catch?" I asked.

She smiled. "All you have to do is one small favor."

"Small doesn't seem like your style," Killian said.

"There are certain people who I'd rather not have follow me to this new world."

"Who?" I asked.

"Cora, my mother."

"You want us to kill your mother?" I asked.

"Yes, that is precisely what I want you to do," the queen said evenly. "You'll need a little magic, of course. Your hook please?" She motioned for Killian and he stuck out his hook which the queen enchanted. "Now you'll be able to remove her heart. It's as simple as that really."

"Alright," Killian told her. "We'll need some time to prepare; I assume you know where she is."

She pulled a box off of one of the book shelves and removed a large top hat. "You'll be going today."

"Today?" Killian and I both asked at the same time.

"Yes, and you'll be taking him with you." She gestured towards one of the guards we had killed on our way in. "The same amount of people who go in must come out."

"Go in where?" I asked.

"Here." She gestured at the seemingly normal hat. Before I could comment she gave it a spin and a tornado like vortex came out of it. "Well, what are you two waiting for?" I glanced and Killian and he shrugged. He lifted the dead guard over his shoulder and took a step towards the hat. "Best to hold on to each other, it can be a little unpredictable at times!" The queen called over the increasingly louder noise. I grabbed Killian's hand and we jumped towards the portal.

Everything went dark and had no idea where I was. I was still holding Killian's hand but when I tried to look in his direction all I saw was pitch black. I tried to speak but either my voice was lost in the noise of the vortex or I didn't actually say anything at all.

Just when I had decided the queen must have tricked us into jumping into this eternal darkness, we were tossed into a bright sunny day. I hit the ground with a thud and rolled over top of the dead man and landed face down in the grass. I stood up and took a look around. "Any idea where we are?" I asked Killian.

"Not the slightest."

"What are we going to do about him?" I asked motioning towards the dead body. Killian just shrugged. I glanced around at the shrubbery and took a few steps forwards and ran into a dead in. "I think we're in a maze. This way is a dead end."

"So is this one," Killian said. I turned to face him and saw that five guards were blocking the other direction.

"Halt in the name of the Queen of Hearts."

"Oh great, more royalty," I mumbled. "I never thought I'd miss democracy quite so much." Two of the guards grabbed my arms and held them behind me back while another pair did the same to Killian and the last guard snatched up our dead companion. We were led through the maze faster than I could move my feet and I ended up letting myself be dragged most of the way. When we finally stopped walking we were in a throne room of sorts. There were a handful of people wearing outrageous clothing waiting. In the middle sat a woman whose features were hidden by a large mask she held in front of her face.

She whispered into a tube and the attendant standing next to her repeated her words. "The queen wishes to know why the two of you were found in her garden."

"We're looking for someone, she goes by Cora in our world," Killian told her.

The queen removed the mask and stood up. "She goes by the Queen of Hearts in this one." She turned to the other people standing near her and waved them away. They all scattered in various directions leaving me and Killian alone with Cora. I stumbled forwards as the guard let me go. Killian didn't waste any time stabbing Cora with his hook. Cora laughed a horrible cackle that reminded me of a fairytale witch and pulled away from Killian. "You really think the Queen of Hearts would keep hers where everyone else does?" Cora lunged for Killian and I pushed him out of the way. She grabbed my arm and yanked me up so I was standing in front of her. "And who are you?"

"Wendy Darling," I said.

"How cute. Who sent you to kill me?" She asked.

"What makes you think I'd tell you?" I countered. I may not have liked the Queen back in Killian's world but I was certain I liked this Queen even less.

"I did try asking nicely." She stuck her hand into my chest and grabbed my heart. I gasped in pain. Cora glanced at Killian, "Tell me who sent you, or I'll kill her."

I didn't expect him to say anything. If I was dead that would be one less thing he had to worry about. "Your daughter," he answered, much to my surprise. Cora released me and I stumbled backward. Killian grabbed me to keep me from falling.

"Regina. I should have known," Cora said to herself. She looked up at us. "It would be easier just to control you both but Regina would notice that." She looked incredibly irritated. "I assume she has finally gathered the means to put her curse in place." Neither of us answered and she took that as a yes. "Why did the two of you agree to help her?"

"Revenge," Killian answered.

"Does anyone ever do anything for any other reason?" Cora mused. "I'm sure my daughter conveniently left out the most important part. "

"And that would be?" Killian asked.

"Once the curse is put in place no one will remember who they are, everyone's lives will be replaced with a new identity. Even you, Darling, even though you are from there." I didn't like her use of my last name.

"How do we stop it?" I asked.

"Oh that's simple really. Help me and I'll help you. I'll stop the curse and you will help me rip out Regina's heart."

"Simple," I repeated. She smiled, obviously ignoring my sarcasm.

"Alright, what's your plan?" Killian asked.


	3. Chapter 3

We went back through the portal with Cora who was pretending to be dead. We were going to hand Cora over to Regina and let them figure out what happened next. I was crossing my fingers that nothing went wrong because I didn't know what we'd do if Regina found out we'd been lying. The Queen was waiting when we exited the portal. Killian dropped Cora onto the chaise I had been sitting on earlier that day and she landed with a thud. Regina walked forward and inspected the body. She left the room for a moment and I glanced at Killian nervously but he was staring off into space intently. Regina came back into the room with a guard and had him take Cora away. She didn't say much to us but motioned for us to follow us down the halls of the castle.

When we reached a room at the far end of the castle close to the gardens she motioned for us to wait outside. "You think she bought it?" I asked Killian quietly.

"Seems like it."

"She seems sad about it." He didn't say anything and I sighed. "I don't trust Cora."

"Neither do I."

"Then why are we doing this?" I asked.

"If we forget who we are I'll never be able to kill Rumplestiltskin and you'll never be able to go home."

I thought about what Cora had said about everyone getting a new identity. It didn't seem too horrible, to start over from scratch. I didn't voice these thought because I knew Killian would disagree. We waited a few more minutes in silence.

"What's going on in there?" I asked. Before Killian could answer Regina opened the door and walked past us. Killian and I both ducked into the room. "Cora?" I whispered.

She sat up and pulled herself out of the box. "Change of plans."

"Change of plans, you can't just change the plans and not tell us," I said.

"Calm down," she said waving me away. She walked out of the room and motioned for us to come with her. She didn't explain anything until we were quite a ways from the castle. "The curse is on its way. I'm going to make a protective space for us so it won't affect us. According to prophecy the curse will be broken in twenty-eight years, until then we will be frozen in time here. After that we will be able to leave here and continue on with our plans."

"Twenty-eight years? As in I won't get home for twenty-eight years?" I asked.

"You will stay exactly as you are now, it is only your friends and family who will change," Cora told me. "Either you stay with us or you go with the curse and lose your memories, either way you won't see your family for twenty-eight years."

"I'll stay then," I said reluctantly.

"Good, it's always better to work with a team," she said patting my arm.

OoOoO

Twenty-Eight Years Later

I drew in a deep breath. It felt like I hadn't touched fresh air in years, which I guess I hadn't. I glanced around though nothing appeared to be changed. "Does this mean the curse is broken?" I asked Cora.

"Well I guess it does," she said happily.

"We should find out who else got trapped in this bubble," Killian said. "There should be some towns in here with food still.

"Yes, the two of you should. I have lots of things to take care of if we're going to get back to your world, Wendy," Cora told us. "Don't worry about where I'm going. I'll find you." She was gone in a cloud of purple smoke.

"Great, this is just great," I said.

"Come on, there are ogres in these parts," Killian warned.

"Ogres? She could pick a part of the world with nice sparkly unicorns or something?"

"Don't be silly, unicorns aren't real," Killian said.

"But ogres are? That's hardly fair."

"If we don't get out of here before dark we're going to get eaten by one, so you may want to hurry up." I groaned and followed him deeper into the forest.

"Shouldn't we be going the other way? How many towns could really be in the middle of a forest?" I asked.

"The other direction is wasteland; the curse took everything on the other side of the wall. This direction is our best bet; hopefully there is something on the other side of these trees."

"And again I want to know why Cora couldn't have picked somewhere nicer to save."

OoOoO

We had walked for hours and had yet to find a single person. "Maybe one of us should climb a tree or something, see if we're going the right direction."

"Good idea, I'll give you a boost," Killian said.

I rolled my eyes. "I was actually hoping you'd do it."

"You're smaller. These trees look pretty weak they're more likely to hold you."

"Fine, send up to my death. No big deal."I sighed and picked a tree that had a few fairly low branches. "Aright help me up."

He held out his hands and I stepped up. He lifted me up as high and he could and I jumped to grab the branch. It took a little work to pull myself but once I got up the climbing was fairly easy. I pulled myself up as high as I thought would hold me then slid across the sturdiest looking branch to get a better view. Talk about a wasteland. I could see the line where the bubble had enclosed us, the trees around us had birds and squirrels but past that everything seemed so dead and empty. I turned to look in the direction in which we were walking and saw the end of the forest not far away. "Thank god," I said. I crawled back across the branch and then back down the tree.

"See anything?" Killian called.

"I'll tell you when I get down. Catch me!" I jumped from the lowest limb and into Killian's arms. "Good catch." He sat me down and I took a step away.

"Afraid I was going to leave you up there?"

"Maybe," I said with a shrug. "The forest ends not far from here. I think I saw some houses past that."

"Good, I'm tired of these trees." We walked on for a while in silence before Killian finally said something. "Eventually you're going to have to start trusting me."

"Same goes for you," I said.

"I already do." I glanced at him skeptically. "You kept Cora from attacking me."

"It was a reflex," I said. "Anyways, you kept her from killing me."

"Reflex," he said smirking.

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I-"

"Don't trust me?"

"Well, I don't dislike you. That's got to count for something."

"How many times am I going to have to save you before you start trusting me?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Just keep doing it."

"You got it, Darling." He winked at me and I shoved him away laughing.

OoOoO

"I feel bad for the people that got trapped here," I told Killian a few days later. We were sitting outside a farmhouse we had found; the owners had given us some food and told us we could stay in their barn if we wanted to. "They have no idea what happened to them. They might have had family on the other side of the border and now they're just gone."

"They're better off. At least they remember who they lost. Everyone on the other side lost all of that. Who knows what Regina is doing to them now?"

"Would it really be so bad? Minus the whole Regina thing. I wouldn't mind starting over anyway. There's a lot I'd like to forget."

Killian didn't say anything for a while. "I wouldn't want to forget. If you forget what you've been through you forget all the lessons you've learned."

"I guess you're right. Who's to say we wouldn't make the same mistakes in that life as we did in this one."

"I wouldn't want to forget Milah either."

Killian hardly ever mentioned her and I wasn't quite sure what I should say. "Better to have loved and lost than to never love at all."

"What?" He asked.

"It's a saying, from a poem I think."I grabbed a stick and started doodling an anchor in the dirt next to me. "What was she like?" I asked.

"She was adventurous and she didn't want anyone or anything to hold her back. She did whatever she wanted to do, sometimes without thinking about the consequences. But she was brave enough to handle whatever she caused." He paused for a moment and then looked at me."She was a lot like you actually." I hadn't realized how close I was sitting to Killian. I stood up quickly and grabbed the plate I'd been eating off of.

"I'm going to run this back inside," I said. I went around the corner and opened the front door. I sat the plate on the counter and went back outside. Before I went back around the corner I took a deep breath. I wasn't about to be anyone's replacement. I stepped around the corner just in time to see Cora arrive in her signature cloud of smoke.

"Good news, we have a break through," she said smiling. "Snow White and her daughter are currently on the run, from me, and they are the key to making it to Wendy's world."

"Snow White, like princess who at a poison apple and was saved by her Prince Charming?" I asked.

"Yes, the very one. She was taken to your world by the curse, if she's here then that means there is another way to get between the worlds."

"That's great!" I said. "What is it?"

"That is where the two of you come in. Hook, I want you to intercept Snow and her traveling companions. They're going to a camp where some survivors have gathered, I've killed everyone there already. Pretend like you're the only survivor, they won't be able to resist stopping to help. Wendy, I want you to stay here and keep up with these." She handed me three bracelets.

"You want us to split up so I can guard some super unattractive jewelry?" I asked skeptically.

"These will allow us to get up the beanstalk to find the enchanted compass we need to get to your world. I can't risk these getting in the hands of those stupid girls."

"Then why don't you keep up with them?" I asked. Before I finished though she had disappeared. "We aren't splitting up."

"I don't think we have much of a choice. I don't want my heart to be ripped out, do you?" Killian asked.

"It's a bad idea."

"Are you afraid to be alone?" He asked.

"Of course not!" I snapped. He raised an eyebrow. "Ok, maybe a little. I have no idea where we are, this isn't my world!"

"You have a sword and I've seen you use it. You can take care of yourself," Killian assured me.

"What if you can't find your way back here later?" He sighed and reached into his pocket. He unwrapped the chain around it and handed it to me. The pendant was circular and had a key hole shape in the top on the box, I flipped it open to find a compass. "A compass?"

"An enchanted compass." He showed me an identical one that he was wearing around his neck. "They'll always point to each other. That one belonged to Milah." I looked at it again and saw that it was indeed pointing directly at Killian. "Now we won't be lost. Does that make you feel better?"

I nodded. "Yeah ok, just don't get eaten by an ogre or anything."

"I'll try not to."

He left and I sat back down. I flipped open the compass and watched the arrow move. I walked around the barn and tried to find something to do. There wasn't any telling how long Cora would leave me alone and it would be days before Killian got back. I grabbed my bag and stuffed the bracelets into the bottom and tossed it over my shoulder. To hell with Cora and her plans. I wasn't about to sit on my ass while everyone else got to be out doing something.

OoOoO

I followed the compass through the forest. I felt like I was going in circles because the arrow kept moving and I couldn't walk fast enough. Finally the arrow stopped moving and I followed in a straight line until I could hear voices. I couldn't make out what was being said but there were definitely several women ahead. I tried to get closer and see what was going on. When I did get close enough I could tell Killian was tied to a tree being interrogated by some blonde lady. This was precisely why we worked in a team. I took a deep breath to get into character and then ran out of the trees. "Killian!"

"Who are you?" The woman snapped.

"Emma, calm down," another woman with short black hair said. She turned to me. "My name is Mary Margret. Who are you?"

"My name is Wendy. I was heading back to camp and I found it in shambles. I couldn't find Killian but I knew he wasn't dead." Emma looked like she was softening.

"Cut the act, Wendy. I'm going to tell them," Killian said with a sigh.

"I almost had her!" I groaned.

"You are a much better actress," one of the other women, a brunette, told me.

"Do I need to tie you up too?" Emma asked.

"No need, what do you want to know?" I asked sighing.

"How about you start at the beginning?" Mary Margret suggested.

"That would be a very long story. I'm from your world and I just really want to get home."

"You're not from here?" The brunette asked gesturing to me and Killian.

"He is. I'm not."

"How did you get here?" Emma asked.

"Well I was in a different world to start with, but Killian and I sailed here."

"You can sail in between worlds?" Emma asked.

"It's more complicated than that," Killian interjected.

"We can help you get home. Cora is trying to get there too, she sent Killian after you. I have something that might be able to help us all," I told them.

"Cora? I thought she was gone," Mary Margret said.

"She's very much still here. So, can we work together or not?" I asked.

"I still don't trust him," Emma told me.

"It's alright, neither do I. But I trust Cora even less and if I'm going to help anyone get into my world I'd rather it be the two of you that actually belong there. So can we untie him?" Emma nodded reluctantly and the Asian woman who hadn't said anything to me untied Killian from the tree.

"What do you have that might be able to help?" Mary Margret asked.

"There's an enchanted compass that will lead to our world. It's at the top of the beanstalk which we can only climb with these enchanted bracelets on because the beanstalk is spelled," I told them.

"Do you know where we need to go?" Emma asked.

"I do," Killian answered.

"Then by all means, lead the way," Emma said irritated. I liked her; she was almost as snappy as I was.


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm Aurora, by the way," the brunette said walking along beside me.

"Nice to meet you," I told her.

"That's Mulan," she said pointing towards the fourth woman. I nodded but didn't say anything. "How long have you been in this world?"

"A while, plus all the time I was stuck in the time bubble. I spent some time in a few other places, mostly Neverland."

"I've never left this world, are they very different?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah. They're pretty different. Especially my world, its crazy different."

"I'd like to go some day. Maybe Mulan and I will visit after our land is back to normal."

"I'm sure you would like it there," I told her.

"Do you miss it?"

"I miss certain things about it. Then there are other things that I'm not looking forward to getting back to."

"We're here," Killian called from up ahead. Aurora and I followed the others into the clearing where the giant beanstalk was reaching up into the sky.

"You weren't kidding about a beanstalk," Emma said.

"It leads to the home of the giants. It is the last of its kind, the rest were destroyed during the war. Up there is a castle with a very large treasury, in that treasury we will find the compass. Of course that means climbing the beanstalk and battling the giant first, but it shouldn't be too difficult," Killian told them. I removed the bracelets from my bag and put one around my own wrist before handing the other two to Killian. "Now who's going with us? Will it be the protective mother? The strong silent warrior? The-"

"Give me that," Emma said snatching the extra bracelet out of his hand. She walked over to Mulan and talked to her for a moment before coming back over to us. "Well come on, what are you standing there for? We have a lot of climbing to do." The three of us walked towards the beanstalk and stood around it. "How exactly does one climb a beanstalk?"

"You just climb and try not to fall," Killian told her. "Wendy, go ahead of me."

"Is that so you can attempt to catch me and end us killing us both, if I were to fall? Or do you just want to spend the next few hours checking out my ass?" I asked. "There's enough room for us to spread out. I don't plan on falling, if that really is what you're worried about."

OoOoO

We'd been climbing in silence for what felt like forever and my hands were beginning to get tired. "Someone say something. I need a distraction from the feeling of my hands slowly falling off," I said.

"Let's talk about you, Emma," Killian suggested.

"I think I'll pass," Emma said. "What about you Wendy, care to share your story."

"I would rather continue in silence I think," I told her.

"Oh come now, you've barely told me anything about your past," Killian pressed.

"That's not true. I told you I was born in New York; I was basically raised by my grandmother. I had an extremely privileged Upper East Side life complete with private school and a fancy sports car. Then I threw that all away to go to college in Texas which was the biggest mistake of my life. The end."

"No, the actual end would have been when you threw yourself off a clock tower but were miraculously saved by Peter," Killian said.

"Killian!" I was so surprised by his offhanded comment about my attempted suicide that I lost grip on the beanstalk. I reached for the first thing I could and barely grabbed on to one of the vines. Killian stuck his hook into the beanstalk before swinging down to grab me with his good hand and pulling me back up. He put his hand on my back holding me against the beanstalk even after I had gotten my footing back.

"I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry."

"Are you alright?" Emma asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, just a little shaken up." I look at Killian who looked a little terrified though he was attempting to act nonchalant about the whole near death experience. "Do you want to know the whole story?" I asked.

"If it isn't going to cause you to fall again," he said.

I took a deep breath. "One of the things I was most excited to do in college was pledge a sorority. My mother and grandmother were legacies and I just knew that I would fit right in with the same sorority as them. Instead I met Marissa and her friends. We hit it off right away and I knew that I had to pledge with them. For the first year everything was fine. Marissa and I became best friends and everyone was so nice. Then the longer I was there the more controlling the officers started to get, Marissa especially. She targeted me worse than any of the other girls. I was supposed to live up to all these standards no one had explained before. Rissa decided what I wore, where I went, who I dated. Then one day I met this guy, an art major, he was the exact opposite of the kind of guy I was supposed to date. Once Marissa found out she threatened to have me kicked out of school, I don't know how she would have done it but I wouldn't put it past her."

"Sounds like an extremely toxic friend," Emma said.

I nodded. "I didn't listen to her and kept seeing him. She got to him and made him leave campus. He didn't even break up with me in person I had to find out over Facebook that he'd started seeing someone else. When I confronted Marissa about the whole thing she denied it, of course. Then she turned it around on me and told everyone about how I was adopted, that my birth mom was an alcoholic and crazy and that it had probably rubbed off on me. The stories got worse and worse until I couldn't go to classes. They tell you all of that goes away when you leave high school, they lie. Anyways, I couldn't take it anymore so I jumped off a clock tower." I took a deep breath. "There's the end you were looking for, Hook."

"I didn't mean to upset you," he said.

"Whatever, its fine. Now you know the whole story." I looked up. "We're almost there; let's just not talk about it anymore." When we got off the beanstalk and onto the giant's land I realized how tiny we were compared to everything else. "I know that you said it was a giant, but I was not expecting him to be this giant."

"Let's hurry before we bump into him," Emma said. The three of us went into the castle. There were rooms upon rooms of treasure. "This place is a mess."

"Killian, seriously how are we going to find this thing?"I asked.

"Split up," he suggested. We all walked into the room and I noticed a wire and threw out my arms to stop the other two.

"Trip wire," I pointed. We looked up at the massive cage suspended above the room. I stepped over the wire and nodded for them to do the same. "Keep a look out, there may be more."

I had only been looking for a moment when there was a huge rumble, like an earthquake. Things started falling and I screamed as a massive statue crashed to the ground almost crushing me.

"Wendy!" I heard Killian yell. "Stay there, I'm coming to you."

Things continued to fall and I then I saw the giant appear in the doorway. "Who dares disturb me?" He bellowed. I heard Emma yell something at him but I couldn't make out the words as a chest fell down spilling its contents on the floor. I finally saw Killian coming but just before he reached me a chunk of the stones from the wall fell, trapping him underneath. I rushed toward him and started trying to push the out of the way. I heard a loud thunk as the trip wire cage hit the ground.

"Killian, are you ok?" I called.

"I'm alright, just a little bruised. Can you get me out?" He asked. I sighed in relief.

"I don't know, I'm trying." I didn't know how long I worked at pushing the immovable stones but nothing worked.

"Get him out," I heard Emma tell someone. I looked over and saw her with the giant. The giant nodded and reached for the rubble, he was able to lift them with one hand. "Now, I need you to keep him here. Ten hours sounds like enough time."

"What?" I asked confused. The giant reached for Hook and lifted him to the wall where he tied him up.

She held up the compass. "I'm going to get us home and I don't trust him."

"But you trust me?" I questioned.

"Not particularly, but you belong in our world so that's where I'm going to take you."

"I'm not just going to leave Killian here," I told her.

"Suit yourself, it doesn't make a bit of deference to me," Emma said.

"I'll wait here, we make good time. We could catch up with them before they leave," I told him.

"Wendy, you need to go. She's your best chance at getting home."

"You're supposed to be coming back with me too," I reminded him. He hugged me awkwardly with his free arm.

"You have the compass, I'll find you. Don't let them know about it," he said quietly.

"Ok," I said stepping away.

"Ready to go?" Emma asked. "We have a long climb down."

OoOoO

Emma barely talked to me on the way down. "What did you do to convince the giant to give you the compass?" I asked.

"He was afraid of humans because they killed his family. I promised I wasn't there to hurt him and told him why I needed the compass. So he let us live."

"Killian isn't such a bad person. There's a story you don't know."

"Everyone has a story, doesn't mean they're a good person. It just lets you understand them." We didn't say anything for a moment. "Does he know you're in love with him?"


	5. Chapter 5

A few days later we were on our way to deal with Cora. She had to be stopped before we could get home. Aurora had been having trouble sleeping lately and this night wasn't anything different. "You want me to tell you a story to help you fall asleep?" I asked.

"Tell me about your necklace," she said. I reached for my neck, immediately thinking of the compass. "The silver locket," she clarified. I let the compass fall out of my hand and grabbed the locket.

"It belonged to my mother; it's passed down through my family to the oldest daughter on her eighteenth birthday." I flipped it open and showed her the old black and white picture. "That's my great-great-great grandmother or something like that. She was a German immigrant to Yorkville, New York, now known as the Upper East Side. Her husband bought her this locket for her eighteenth birthday and it's been passed down ever since, there has yet to be a generation without a daughter."

"It's beautiful," she said. "Do you have any sisters?"

"No, just two brothers, Michael and John. Michael is older than me; he's a big shot business man. John is in high school."

"How did you end up in Neverland?" She asked quietly, I could tell she was getting tired.

"Oh that's a very long story. How about I tell you about my family?" I suggested. She made a noise of agreement and I continued. "Michael is married to a woman named Sylvie, she's a model. My mother hates her because Sylvie is determined to never have children. John plays baseball, he got a full ride scholarship to a great university and-" I stopped when I realized Aurora had fallen asleep. Emma looked over from her area with Mary Margret and then came over to sit with me.

"I can't wait till we get back home," she said.

"You have someone waiting on you back there?" I asked.

"My son, Henry."

"I'm sure he misses you."

"Well it shouldn't be long now." She pulled Aurora's shawl over her. "How did you meet Killian?"

"You know, I don't really remember how I first met him." I hardly remembered my first few weeks in Neverland and when I tried I got a headache. "It's strange, like I blocked out a whole chunk of time." I shrugged. "Anyways, I joined his crew so he would leave Neverland. He told me his story and we agreed to mutually help each other."

"And that relationship remained purely professional?" Emma asked skeptically.

"I am not in love with Killian, not that it is any of your business."

Aurora sat up quickly gasping for air. "There was a boy, I saw a boy in my nightmare. His name was Henry." I looked at Emma who was staring at Aurora.

"Are you sure his name was Henry?" Emma asked.

"Yes, he told me his name," Aurora insisted. Mary Margret and Mulan had woken up due to the commotion and come over to us.

"Do you think it's possible she's actually talking to Henry?" Emma asked her mother.

"The nightmares Aurora's been having are the same kind I had after I woke up from my sleeping curse. We know that both she and Henry were under a sleeping curse at some point, there's a chance that she could be talking to Henry," Mary Margret said.

"Do you think you could go back to sleep and look for him?" I asked.

"I can try."

OoOoO

The following day Aurora was telling Mary Margret about the dream scene and everything she could remember. Mulan was refusing to let Aurora go back because she had woken up with burns on her arms and Mary Margret had volunteered to go in her place.

There was a rustling in the trees. "Guys, did you hear that?" I asked.

"Probably just some squirrels," Emma said.

"No, that was bigger than a squirrel," I insisted. Before anyone else had a chance to say anything a group of men appeared out of the trees.

"Cora's army!" Mulan shouted. She drew her sword and fought off one of them. I followed her lead and was able to kill one of them before I heard screaming. I turned to see Aurora being carried through the forest on one of the soldier's shoulder. Mulan ran after her while the rest of us stayed to get rid of the remaining soldiers. Mulan returned without Aurora. "Cora will want the compass; we have to trade her for Aurora."

"The compass is too important," Emma said.

"To you three maybe, but not to me and her," Mulan said.

"We can't trade the compass, we'll find another way," I said.

"How? Cora is unbeatable."

"We can put Mary Margret in touch with Henry and then we'll know how to defeat Cora," I told her. "What do you need?" I asked Mary Margret.

"Something to put me in a deep enough sleep that I will have the dreams," she told me.

"Do you know where we can get that?" I asked Mulan.

She nodded. "I kept some things on hand; I have something she could take. It might work." She pulled a tiny jar from her bag. "If this doesn't work we are going after Aurora."

OoOoO

Mulan explained to Mary Margret how to use the sleeping drug. It worked within minutes and Mary Margret was out cold. Emma and I sat by her waiting for her to wake up and tell us what she saw. Mulan, who didn't appear to want to befriend either of us, stayed away.

"Why can't you remember Neverland?" Emma asked.

"I don't know," I told her.

"What do you remember?"

"I remember being attacked by pirates and I remember joining Hook's crew. That's it." I shook my head. "I was there for at least two months. I know things about the kids, but I don't remember learning them. I was in a bad place then, maybe I just blocked it out."

"Or something or someone caused you to forget."

"Like a spell or something?" I asked.

"Maybe."

Mary Margret sat up with a gasp. "It worked."

"Did you see Henry?" Emma asked.

Mary Margret shook her head. "No, it was David. He went under a sleeping curse so that Henry wouldn't have to keep going back to the room. He's stuck under the spell until I can wake him up."

"We'll get back and you'll wake him up, its going to be ok," Emma told her.

"Did he tell you how to defeat Cora?" I asked, impatient to get moving.

"We need to go to Rumpelstiltskin's old cell. David said we have to find squid ink there," she told me.

"Rumpelstiltskin?" I asked.

"Yeah, a real pleasant fellow," Emma said sarcastically.

"I know who that is," I told them. "The Dark One."

"Did Hook tell you about him?" Mary Margret asked.

I nodded. "Ok, Mulan, you heard her. Let's get going," I said as I turned.

"Where's Mulan?" Mary Margret asked.

"I don't know," Emma said. "Wendy, check my bag."

I opened her bag and pulled everything out. "Its not here. She took the compass."

"She couldn't have gotten far," Emma said.

"Let's go, we can't let Cora get that compass."

OoOoO

Emma was right Mulan had barely made it an hour from camp. Mary Margret was livid, I was surprised to see her getting this violent with anyone but I had no doubt she would kill Mulan if it came down to it.

"Wait! Mary Margret, stop!" A voice yelled. Aurora appeared out of the woods. Mary Margret let Mulan go and Mulan went to inspect Aurora.

"Are you hurt?" Mulan asked her.

"I'm fine," she assured Mulan.

"How did you get away from Cora?" I asked.

"I didn't, Hook let me go," Aurora told me. I grabbed the compass around my neck subconsciously. "He wanted to prove he was trustworthy. He said the offer still stands, he'll help you get the magical ashes you need to get home as long as he can go with you."

Emma nodded. "We need to get to Rumpelstiltskin's cell."

I started to follow them but Aurora grabbed my arm. "Wendy, wait."

"Yeah?" I asked stopping.

"Cora has Aurora's heart, I don't have long until she comes back. Be careful what you do in front of her, Cora is watching you just as much as she's watching them."

"Killian?"

"Be careful, Wendy."

OoOoO

"What are we going to do with it once we find it?" I asked the girls as we looked through the cell. I was crossing my fingers I would be the one to find the ink first so I could keep it from Aurora. There had been no way to prevent us from going to the cell without looking suspicious myself. Unfortunately this meant Cora knew our exact location and was probably on her way. Aurora hadn't left the others alone so I hadn't been able to tell the others what happened.

There was a crack in some of the mortar around the brick and I pulled at it with my fingers. I unrolled the scroll; it was simply covered with the name 'Emma' over and over again. I turned to Emma and held up the paper. "I think this is for you." I handed it to her and she looked it over.

"Why would he do that?" Emma asked.

"Because he knew you were the savior," Mary Margret said. Suddenly the bars on the cell appeared locking us in. We all turned towards the entrance and saw Cora and Hook coming towards us. "How did you find us?" Mary Margret asked.

"Oh it was easy really," she said holing up Aurora's heart. "Now be a dear and give me the compass." Before Emma could respond the compass was in Cora's hands. "Come now, Wendy." She motioned me forwards and I went against my will, I was able to pass through the bars and I was stopped between her and Killian. "Thanks for keeping my little secret, Darling."

"Wendy, you knew?" Emma asked angrily.

"Aurora was always there, I couldn't tell you," I defended myself. "I didn't mean for this to happen!"

"Come now, Wendy," Cora said motioning Killian and I.

I turned and ran back to the bars. I slipped my compass off my neck and pressed into Emma's hands. "This'll help you find us," I whispered. I turned back around and hurried after Cora and Killian. Luckily for me Cora never even noticed. Killian looked at me questioningly and I pulled the chain on my locket to show that I was only wearing one necklace.

OoOoO

"Where are we going?" I asked after we had walked quite a ways.

"We're here."

"A dry lake?" Killian asked looking around.

"After all of this do you doubt me?" Cora asked arching an eyebrow. She turned back to the lake and water exploded from the ground. Killian went and poured the magical ashes into the filling lake and the water began to spin.

"Is this it?" I asked.

"You're going home," Killian told me.

"Yes, we are," Emma said, behind me. I turned and breathed a sigh of relief that they'd gotten out of the cell. "Thanks for this, Wendy." She tossed my compass to me.

"This is the end of the road, Cora," Mary Margret said. "Give us the compass." Cora turned and Mary Margret was thrown back. Killian pulled Aurora's heart out and tossed it to Mulan. She didn't bother sticking around for the rest of the battle, though I didn't blame her a bit.

I slid my compass back around my neck and ran to help Mary Margret up. "Are you ok?"

She nodded. "We need to stop Cora." She held up Mulan's sword. "This might help."

"Hey Cora, how about you don't jump through the portal," I called. She turned and laughed. She threw a spell at us but Mary Margret deflected it with the sword. "Try again?"

"You're making a mistake Wendy," Cora told me.

"No, I don't think I am."

"Trust me, you don't want to be my enemy."

"Honestly I don't give a damn," I told her with a shrug.

Cora was in front of us in a second and she sent me flying backwards. I hit the ground hard and got the breath knocked out of me. "Wendy!" Killian knelt down beside me.

"You look rough," I told him. We both glanced at Emma and who was in between Cora and Mary Margret.

"You're going to go with Emma into that portal," he told me.

"So are you."

"Emma isn't going to let me," he said. He grabbed the compass around my neck. "There's another way to get to your world. I'll find you."

My focus changed to Emma as Cora was flung back unconscious. She turned towards us. "Ready, Wendy?" Emma asked. Killian didn't even bother to challenge Emma again; she'd already left her mark.

Emma grabbed Mary Margret's hand and reached out for mine. I clasped hers tightly. "Let's go."

"One, two, three."


	6. Chapter 6

We flew through the opening of a well and onto the ground. I groaned. "I could've done with a softer landing." A hand reached out to me and pulled me up.

"Well you certainly aren't from Storybrooke," the man said.

"No, I'm from New York," I said. "Where is Storybrooke?"

"Maine," he answered. "What's your name?"

"Wendy Darling."

"I'm Mr. Gold."

Emma appeared by my side but it wasn't me she wanted to talk to. "You knew who I was before all of this. You set this up, you've been trying to control me since before I was even born."

"Dearie, I may have made this curse, but I did not make you. I knew you would be powerful and I may have taken advantage of that."

"Wait, the paper, the cell, this is Rumpelstiltskin?" I asked Emma.

"The one and only, dearie," he answered.

I suddenly felt sick. "Wendy, let's go. Mary Margret went to find David; we'll meet them at the diner."

OoOoO

"Oh my god, I haven't had a cheeseburger in three months," I said. "This is actually heavenly."

"I'm glad you like it. I'm Ruby, Granny and I run this place."

"This is a pretty cute little town. It's vintage," I told her.

"It must be boring after growing up in New York City," she said. At my surprised look, she smiled. "Gossip travels fast in this cute little town."

I shrugged. "I could use a little boring after everything that's happened."

"Are you coming to the Welcome Home party we're throwing for Emma and Mary Margret tomorrow night?" She asked.

"I didn't know about it."

"It'll be fun. All of their friends are coming, you'll get to meet everyone. I guess technically its your Welcome Home party too, considering you're back home, sort of."

"I'll be here."

"Awesome. I'll be sure to introduce you to all the coolest people," she assured me. "We're going to close soon but you could stay and have a piece of pie if you want, on the house. Granny makes the best chocolate chess."

"That sounds great, but I'm exhausted. Where can a girl find a motel around here?"

"Oh Granny runs the bed and breakfast too!" Ruby explained. "You can stay there until you find something more permanent. I'll walk you over there." She started to step out from around the counter and then quickly turned around and boxed up a slice of that pie. "In case you need a midnight snack."

"Thanks, Ruby." It had been so long since I'd had someone be nice to me without some motive behind it and she couldn't possibly understand how much that meant to me.

When I got to my room she said goodbye and I went inside to settle down. I tossed my bag on the bed and looked in the mirror. I snorted when I saw my appearance, no wonder she was so nice to me, I looked like a zombie. My clothing, which had once belonged to Milah, was torn and ruined. I pealed off my pants and they almost stood on their own, I tossed them into the trash bin by the desk and then did the same with my shirt. My body was covered with cuts and bruises, including an ugly purple one of my jaw from a fight I couldn't even remember now. I sat my locket on the bedside table and lastly I removed my compass and laid it very gently on the dresser like I was afraid it would turn to dust if I was too rough.

I went into the bathroom and turned on the water in the shower. When I stepped under the faucet I actually started crying it felt so amazing. The last few months I'd forgotten how healing a hot shower could feel and after everything I thought I deserved a good cry anyways.

I found clean clothes in the closet. Ruby must have known I'd need a place to stay. It wasn't much, a few t-shirts and tank tops, and some jeans and sweatpants. I pulled on the baggiest t-shirt and the sweatpants and fell into bed. The pillow felt like lying on a cloud and I was asleep as soon as my head hit it.

OoOoO

"I'm home," I said the next morning. I just lay in bed staring at the ceiling trying to comprehend that fact. Finally, after I felt like I'd been acting like a bum for long enough, I pulled myself out of bed and looked at the clock. It was already mid afternoon. I wasn't sure I'd ever felt so rested, but I also thought I could probably sleep for the next twenty-eight years and be all right with that.

I changed into a flowy green tank top and some jeans. I quickly grabbed my locket and compass before heading downstairs and across the street to the dinner. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to sleep all day," Ruby said when I walked in. "People should start showing up in an hour or so. I think Granny told everyone the half price burgers would start at four."

"How about pancakes, can we have half priced pancakes?" I asked.

She laughed. "Breakfast is included with the room, but you did miss prime hours. I'll see if there's any mix left in the fridge."

While she was gone a kid hopped up on the booth next to me. He looked at me and smiled. "You're Wendy, you came with my mom from the Enchanted Forrest. I'm Henry."

"Oh you're Emma's kid, the one Aurora was talking to in her dreams." Henry nodded. "So you grew up here, in Storybrooke?"

He nodded again. "With Regina, she's my mom too."

"I don't think I've met her yet," I said. "Actually I haven't met many people."

"Emma invited her to the party, I'll make sure you meet her." He frowned. "Do you hear that noise? Its like something is whirring. I think its coming from your necklace." He reached for the compass and my first instinct was to grab it before he could, I held it protectively until he withdrew his hand. I opened it slowly and peeked inside, sure enough the compass was spinning crazily.

"I don't know why that's happening."

Before Henry could say anything else Ruby came out with my pancakes. "Here you go. You didn't tell me what you wanted on them so I took some creative liberties and added all my favorite toppings. And bacon, everyone loves bacon."

"They look great," I told her.

"I want pancakes," Henry said.

"Come back tomorrow for breakfast," she said, ruffling his hair.

The door opened and a girl that I instantly recognized came in. "Belle?"

She looked at me surprised to hear her name. As soon as she realized who I was, she took a small step backwards. "Do you two know each other?" Ruby asked.

"We met briefly," I said.

"In the Queen's dungeons," Belle said.

"I'm so sorry about that," I blurted. "Killian can be rash and I know he probably scared you but I swear I wouldn't have let him hurt you, even if the Queen hadn't shown up."

"You were in the Enchanted Forrest before the curse?" Ruby asked. "How did you escape?"

"That's a long story," I said.

"We should start over," Belle said.

I nodded, grateful for the second chance. "I should properly introduce myself, I'm Wendy Darling."

"Now that we're all friends we should do something to celebrate Wendy's homecoming!" Ruby told us. "How about we have a movie marathon tomorrow, Wendy and I can pick out our favorite chick flicks and we'll show you all the great movies you missed out on," she told Belle.

The door opened again and this time it was a large crowd of people. "Looks like the party is here," I noted.

Ruby groaned. "Time to start churning out those half priced burgers."

"Want to move to a booth?" Belle asked me. "Ruby will be busy for a while and everyone will want our spots." I nodded and we went to the quiet corner of the diner.

"Have you been in Storybrooke this whole time?" I asked. "Ruby mentioned you'd missed out on things."

"Regina had me locked up in the hospital's mental ward, it seems to be a trend in my life."

"Regina, Henry's mom?" I asked.

She nodded. "Regina the Queen."

"Wendy!" Henry called. "Come meet my mom!"

I glanced at Belle nervously but went across the room to him anyways. "Nice to see you again, Wendy."

"I thought you said you hadn't met?" Henry asked confused.

"I didn't know her by Regina then," I told him.

"You've been in the Enchanted Forrest this entire time?" She asked curiously.

"I guess I was far enough away from the curse, there was a small group of us who weren't affected," I told her. I said it casually like she wasn't the one who caused it, like I wasn't guilty of disobeying her orders to kill Cora.

"Interesting," she said.

I wanted to smile and say we should get to know each other better, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Henry was staring at us, as if urging us to sit down, have some coffee and become best friends. I noticed there was a bubble of space around Regina and the other guests, so my guess might not be that far off. "It was nice to see you again, I should be getting back to my dinner," I said politely before turning and walking back to Belle.

Emma and Mary Margret stopped me on the way. "This is David, my husband," Mary Margret said. "David, this is Wendy, she's the girl I was telling you about."

"Welcome to Storybrooke," he said. He had one of those charming smiles that instantly made me like him.

"Welcome home," Emma said. She hugged me, which caught me off guard. I didn't take Emma to be the huggy type. I guess the two of us being in the same predicament, trying to get home from a world that wasn't our own, bonded us.

"I met Henry earlier," I told her.

"He wasn't getting into trouble was he?"

I laughed. "No, he was behaving himself."

"That's a surprise," David said.

"I'm sorry I just left you here last night. I would have offered you a place to stay but my apartment is a little cramped right now."

"Its fine, Ruby got me a room at the B&B."

She reached up and grabbed my compass and flipped the cover open. The arrow had stopped spinning and was now pointing straight through me as if it had given up on finding it's missing half. "Don't worry about him, he'll find you." I nodded, hoping she was right. I turned around and returned to Belle.

My pancakes were gone and she smiled sheepishly. "They were going to get cold, and they looked really good."

I laughed. "That's ok. I still have chocolate chess pie in my room."

"Regina is watching you," Belle observed.

"Does she look like she wants to kill me?" I asked.

"No, she looks disappointed."

OoOoO

Belle and I must have talked for two hours. People came and went from the party; some Ruby would bring by to meet me. Some people would ask me questions about myself or about the state of the Enchanted Forrest but mostly Belle and I were alone, which I was all right with.

"How did you meet Rumpelstiltskin?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. I knew the story of Beauty and the Beast.

"My father traded me for my family's safety." She paused. "God that sounds horrible, doesn't it?"

"The classic case of Stockholm Syndrome, I know it well," I said with mock drama.

She laughed. "Is that how you met Hook?"

"More or less, though I was slightly more willing to go."

"I guess we aren't that different," she said.

"But yet we ended up on two separate sides of a war."

"I almost forgot that the whole reason you tracked me down was for advice on killing Rumpelstiltskin. Why?"

"It's a long story, revenge basically. Rumpelstiltskin has done some pretty horrible things."

She nodded. "Hook isn't exactly an angel either."

"Oh, I'm definitely not saying he's an angel. But he's saved my life more times than I care to admit."

She laughed. "Someone is a tough girl."

I shrugged. "Yo ho, it's a pirate's life for me." She stared at me blankly and I sighed. "Just once I want someone to laugh at that joke."

"Sorry, locked in a mental institution, remember?"

"Forget chick flicks, we're watching the entire Pirates of the Caribbean series tomorrow."


	7. Chapter 7

“Waffles or pancakes?” Ruby asked.

“Waffles, because they have built in syrup cups,” I answered. I ate one of the squares as if to show her their function.

The door opened causing both of us to turn. “Oh Belle, you’re early,” Ruby said.

“I can’t stay, something came up. We’ll have to plan for another time. Sorry,” she said. She side hugged me quickly and then ran back out the door.

“Um?”

“What’s up with her?” I asked. 

“I don’t know,” Ruby answered. “Think she’s ok?” 

“She didn’t seem scared exactly.”

“More nervous excited?” Ruby suggested. She sighed. “I guess I’m not taking the rest of the day off.” 

“I’ll hang out with you here, its not like I have anywhere else to be.” 

“In that case, I’ll make some more coffee.” 

OoOoO

“I really love your necklaces,” Ruby told me. 

“The locket is a family heirloom,” I explained. I held it out so she could see it closer. She flipped it open to look at the picture and then closed it and reached for the compass. She flipped it open before I could react. 

“Oh that’s cute. I like the keyhole on top, it’s like a non-cliché “key to my heart” necklace.” She closed it and let it drop back down. I reached for it and rubbed my finger over the detailing on the front.

“It was a gift from a friend,” I told her. 

“A friend or a friend?” She asked wiggling her eyebrows. 

I laughed. “He’s just a friend.” 

“Oh it’s a he, that automatically means your lying.”

“Am I not allowed to have guy friends?” I asked. 

“Yeah, definitely, but you’re way to protective of that necklace for that friendship to be purely platonic.” 

“It was important to him, that’s all.” 

“Umhm, ok. Where is he? New York?” She asked. 

“The Enchanted Forrest.” 

Her eyes widened a bit. “Ooh. That complicates things.”

“Does it bother anyone but me that we haven’t heard anything from Belle since this morning?” I asked trying to changed the subject.

“Uh uh, you are not getting away that easy. You can go look for her after you tell me about him.”

“Ruby, there’s nothing to tell.” She stared at me and I sighed. “It’s complicated.” 

“This is progress.” She motioned for me to continue. 

“I said I would help him get revenge and he would help me get back home. That was, I don’t know, four months ago excluding the time bubble. I used to think he was a pretty horrible person but that’s changed. I mean I’m still not sure if I totally trust him. But he’s saved my life on multiple occasions, even when it didn’t exactly benefit him.” Ruby put her elbows on the counter and leaned on her hands. “What?” 

“This is like a movie. Keep going.” 

“Basically he was supposed to be here with me right now but, thanks to Emma, that didn’t happen.”

“What’s he like?” 

“Well for starters, he’s a pirate.” 

“Whoa stop, were you a pirate?”

I shrugged. “I guess so.” 

“You did look pretty piratey when you first showed up.”

“That’s not how I normally dress, just so you know.”

“Oh! Shopping! I almost forgot I meant to take you shopping,” she said happily. 

“There’s shopping around here?” I asked. 

“A little.” She looked over her shoulder. “Granny, I’m leaving early!” Turning back to me she added, “there are a few boutiques, nothing too exciting but better than my extra tank tops.” 

OoOoO

Two hours later I had an entirely new wardrobe. Ruby made me change into shorts and tights, a vintage looking Channel t-shirt and a leather jacket. “If that guy wasn’t into you before, he will be once he sees you looking like this,” Ruby said as she tied a bow around my head as a headband. 

“Let it go, Ruby.”

“Never.” She grabbed some eyeliner and started trying to give me cat eyes.

“Ruby, I’m not seeing anyone today. All of this is not necessary.”

“You just got back from months in another world where you became a pirate and almost died multiple times. If a little mascara and red lip stick isn’t in order then I don’t know what is.” 

I sighed and held still as she brushed the mascara wand on my lashes and ran red lipstick over my lips. “Do I look like a prostitute now?” I asked. 

“I believe the correct term is high class escort,” she said with a wink.

Over her shoulder I noticed two people walking together. “Isn’t that Belle?”

She turned to look. “Yeah, and Mr. Gold.” 

“I’m going to run and catch up with her and make sure everything is ok,” I told Ruby.

“See you at the diner later?” She called as I crossed the street. I held up a thumbs up before hurrying down the block. When I reached the docks where I’d seen Belle and Rumpelstiltskin first my compass started whirring crazily again. 

“What is the matter with you?” I asked flipping it open. When I looked up I saw Belle getting into Gold’s car and I groaned. I glanced around and noticed an outdoors shop. 

“Welcome to Storybrooke Outdoors where-“

I cut off the shopkeeper. “Can I test out one of these bikes?” 

“Of course! We have mountain bikes, road bikes, and hybrids. I personally think-“

“I’ll just try this one, thanks.” I grabbed the bike closest to me and wheeled it out of the store. It had been months since I’d ridden a bike but I guess people were right when they said you never forgot how to ride a bike. I didn’t know why I felt like I needed to find Belle immediately but I had this feeling whatever was going on right now was important. 

I really had no way of knowing where they’d gone but I kept riding down the street I’d last seen them on hoping I’d eventually bump into them. Just when I was starting to get tired and like I should just turn around and go back I saw a sign saying, “Thanks for visiting Storybrooke!” 

I started peddling faster. If Rumpelstiltskin was about to leave Storybrooke I had to stop him. There was no way that Killian and I would be able to find him if he got out. Not that I had a play for stopping him, the only bit of magic I had I was wearing around my neck. When I finally reached the edge of town I saw Gold’s car. I dropped the bike and ran around to the front of the car. The first thing I noticed was Belle lying on the other side of the spray painted line, bleeding from a gunshot wound. The second thing I noticed was the car flying down the road and before I could even get turned around I heard a body hit the car’s windshield with a thud.

Rumpelstiltskin and I brushed past each other; the world seemed to be moving in slow motion. I knew who’d been hit before I could even see him. “Killian!” I dropped to my knees by him and suddenly the world sped up again. 

“Wendy?”

“Hey, you’re going to be ok,” I told him. I tapped the compass he was wearing. “I found you this time.” 

OoOoO

Emma arrived with David and Mary Margret arrived on the scene and helped transport Belle and Killian to the hospital. I hadn’t seen Rumpelstiltskin since arriving at the hospital, probably a good move on Emma’s part, I’d probably try to kill him if I did.

“Wendy, you’re still here,” Emma said coming out of the back. 

“Of course I am,” I said. “I’m not leaving Killian alone.”

“You should get some rest. He’s safe here.”

“Is Rumpelstiltskin still alive?” I asked. Emma nodded. “Then he’s not safe.” 

She sighed. “You might as well go in and see him.” I nodded and got up. “Oh and Wendy, promise me you won’t try to break him out or anything. He’s not completely innocent in this.” 

“He shot Belle, I know.” I turned and went down the hall. I stopped outside of his room and leaned in the doorway. Suddenly I felt nervous about seeing him. I hadn’t looked in the mirror, though I had a feeling my makeup was probably ruined. I wiped at my eyes quickly hoping to get rid of any tracks that would show I’d been crying. 

“You look beautiful,” he said. 

I laughed, more relieved than anything. “Well you look like hell.” He laughed but it turned into a cough, which looked like it hurt. “Shut up, Killian, before you hurt yourself anymore than you already have.”

I pulled up a chair and sat next to him. He shook his hand, which rattled his handcuff. “Want to help me out of this thing?”

I shook my head. “Emma made me promise.” He sighed. “How long have you been in Storybrooke?” I asked.

“A few days, same as you.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. 

“Cora isn’t exactly pleased with you, I was hoping if I stayed away from you she would too,” he told me. “Aren’t you upset about Belle? I watched you two at the diner, you two seemed like you were becoming friends.” 

“I understand what you did, doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.”

“Why do you keep giving me second chances?” He asked. “I’m not a good person. I don’t deserve you.”

“You’ve done more for me than anyone else ever has. It doesn’t matter how many times I have to forgive you, I believe in you.” Before I had a second to think about it I leaned in and kissed him. It was hardly a passionate kiss but it was definitely didn’t say ‘I just want to be friends’ either. When I leaned back he looked as surprised as I felt. Killian reached for me but was restricted by the handcuffs. I was regretting not pickpocketing Emma and taking the keys when I’d had the chance. “I should go see Belle.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll be back,” I told him as I exited into the hall. Emma appeared to have gone and I asked one of the nurses where Belle was. Clearly they didn’t mind visiting hours were technically over.

When I reached Belle’s room she looks surprised to have a visitor this late, the look on her face was very similar to the one she’d had when I called her name in the diner the other day. “Who are you?” She asked.

“My name’s Wendy,” I told her. 

“I’m sorry, should I know you?” 

“We um, we were friends. I haven’t known you very long but I thought we were going to be friends for a long time.” 

“And then this happened,” she mumbled. “I seem to be disappointing everyone today.” 

“Its ok, I won’t push you to remember anything. I’m sure this is all very confusing for you. Is there anything you would like to know? Maybe I can help clear up some of the confusion.” 

“Do you know Mr. Gold? He really wants me to remember who I am.”

I bit my lip. This could be my one chance to push what Killian had already started, take Belle completely away from Rumpelstiltskin. “I don’t think-“ I started to speak but cut myself off. Losing everything was one thing, but losing everything and having no one to turn to was something else entirely. Not to mention the way they looked at each other, like there wasn’t another person in the room. I may not understand it but the one thing I could not take away from them was their love. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about him,” I told her finally. “Sorry.”

“That’s alright.”

“I should probably go before someone decides to enforce the visiting hours,” I told her.

“Are you going to come back?” She asked.

I nodded. “I’ll come back tomorrow.”

When I got back to Killian’s room he was asleep. Someone had left a blanket and pillow on the chair I’d been sitting in. I leaned over and kissed his forehead before wrapping up in the blanket and trying to get some sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

“You look uncomfortable,” Killian said.

“That’s because I am,” I said yawning.

“You should have just made me move over.” 

“You have two broken ribs and I’m not sure there’s a part of you that isn’t bruised. I wasn’t going to push you over. Plus, you were asleep.”

“You aren’t sleeping in that chair again. You’re never going to get any sleep that way,” he told me. “Either go back to the inn or-“

“Rumpelstiltskin could come back.”

“All the more reason for you to leave. If you think you’re a match for him, you’re wrong.” 

“I’m not leaving,” I said with finality. “I just got you back.”

“We were separated for three days, Wendy.” 

“I lived on an island full of children and a ship with your crew members for months, before that I lived in a sorority house with twenty other girls. If I used to have a sense of personal space, I lost it four years ago when I pledged Delta Gam.”

“Did you ever think that might be the cause of all your problems? You’re an introvert, people exhaust you.” 

“What are you a psychiatrist? I am not an introvert.” 

He laughed. “Yes, you are.” 

“No, I’m not.”

“Tell me the last time you initiated a conversation?”

“I um…” I paused to think, everyone I’d met at the party had talked to me first. “I talked to Belle.”

“You were at a party and you decided to sit in the corner of the room with Belle,” he added. 

“Stalker!” Before he could respond I leaned over and kissed him, much less gentle than the first time. “There, see, extrovert.” 

“It only took you, what, three months to do that?”

“Who said I wanted to kiss you that whole time?” I asked. I leaned on the rail of his bed.

“Well you do now.” 

The first kiss had surprised myself and the second had been to prove a point but I wasn’t going to deny I’d noticed that Killian was attractive on multiple occasions in the past. This close to him I was starting to realize how much I really did want to kiss him. “Yeah, I do.” I leaned in and kissed him again, slower, deliberately. I was seriously wishing Emma would uncuff him because this was definitely not the most comfortable position. I lost my grip on the railing and my hand landed on his bandaged side taking my body weight with it. 

He gasped in pain and I jumped back. “Sorry!” I squeaked. 

“That hurt worse than getting hit by the car.” 

“Are you ok? Should I get someone?” 

“Sit down, Wendy, I’m fine. If you wanted me to shut up, you could have just said so,” he said. But he was sort of smiling so I knew I must not have hurt him too bad. “That’s certainly an incentive to heal faster.”

“Me punching you in the ribs?” I asked. 

“No, Darling, you kissing me.”

The door opened and Ruby came in with several takeout boxes. “I brought food!” 

“Ruby, hey!” I said standing quickly and helping her with the boxes. I was glad to have a distraction from embarrassing myself anymore.

She started to sit down in my chair. “Oh so you’re-“ I grabbed her arm cutting her off and pushed her out the door in front of me. 

“Killian, don’t eat all of that,” I instructed.

“No promises, Darling.”

As soon as I closed the door behind me Ruby beamed. “He calls you Darling!” 

“That is my last name,” I reminded her.

“That’s him, right?” 

“Yes, Ruby. Jeez calm down you’re acting like a hyper puppy.” 

“Things have changed since I talked to you last. I can tell.” 

“Near death experiences have a way of changing things.”

“You aren’t denying it anymore, see I was right,” she said smiling smugly. “Now are you going to introduce me or are you going to let him eat all of your food?”

I groaned and followed her back into the room. “Ruby this is Killian, Killian this is Ruby.” 

“I saw you at the diner,” he said nodding. 

“You were at the diner? How long have you been in Storybrooke?” 

“As long as I’ve been,” I told her.

“And you just watched Wendy from a distance and let her worry about you?” She looked between both of us. “This is the most passive aggressive relationship I’ve ever seen.” 

“Ruby.”

She put up her hands in surrender. “Ok, ok, I can see when I’m not wanted. Enjoy the food, I’ll bring something else by tomorrow.”

As soon as she was gone I lay my head down on the table. “Can we get back on your ship and sail elsewhere, please?”

He laughed. “Why?” 

“I forgot what it was like to be normal, nosy friends and shopping and drama that doesn’t involve someone’s life hanging in the balance. Its so boring.” 

“And you wanted to come back to all of this.”

“Clearly I didn’t think this all through.”

“I think she’s nice.”

“She is, I like her. I just– I miss adventure and us being a team and not dealing with the same people for more than a day at a time.” I sighed. “You’re right, I am an introvert.”

“I know you better than you know yourself.” He took a bite of his burger. “This is good, what is it?”

“A cheeseburger. You remember that thing you said would probably eat you?” 

“Cheeseburger’s aren’t alive,” he said.

“That’s exactly what I told you.”

“That was the first time you called me Killian,” he remembered. 

I nodded. “Oh! I forgot I told Belle I’d come visit her today.” I opened a few of the boxes until I found what I was looking for. “Perfect.” 

“What’s in there?” 

“Chocolate chess pie. No, you can’t have any.”

OoOoO

When I got to Belle’s room she was sitting in bed hugging her knees. “Are you ok?” I asked. She shook her head. I offered her the box. “Pie?” 

She nodded and took it. She opened it and took a bite. “It’s good.” 

“Ruby sent it over.” 

“Who?” 

“Oh, right, you don’t remember her. She works at the diner; you were friends with her too. I think she got you a job at the library.”

“I worked at the library? That sounds nice.”

“I’ll tell Ruby to swing by and bring you some books tomorrow,” I told her.

“Thanks.” She was silent for a moment as she ate the pie. “Mr. Gold visited me again.” 

“Oh?”

“He brought me a cup. He said it was enchanted,” she said looking at the wall and not me.

“That’s um, interesting.” 

She looked at me suddenly. “What do you know about magic?” 

“Magic?” I repeated. “That’s not real.” 

“He healed me,” she insisted. She swung her legs over the bed so she was facing me. 

“Maybe you weren’t as hurt as you thought,” I suggested lamely. I’d seen her gunshot wound, it hadn’t been fatal but there’s no way it would have healed this quickly.

“Wendy, I saw it.”

“You must have imagined it.” 

“I’m not crazy!” She slid to her feet so she was standing right in front of me. 

“Belle, I didn’t mean to upset you. I-“

“You know! You all know and you won’t tell me!” She yelled. 

One of the nurses popped her head in. “Honey, you’re disturbing the other patients.” 

“I don’t care!” Belle snapped at her. The nurse grabbed Belle’s arm and tried to sit her back down.

“I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” the nurse said to me.

I nodded and went back out to the lobby. I didn’t go back to see Killian right away. I waited until I calmed down, until the irrational panic subsided. I didn’t have a reason to panic, I told myself. Belle would be ok, and anyway I wasn’t to blame for her state. 

Finally I stood up and went into Killian’s room. I leaned against the doorframe. “Are you alright?” he asked. 

I nodded. “Can I stay on your ship? I need to get out of here for a while.”

OoOoO

By the end of the week Killian had been released. I never went back to the hospital because I didn’t want to see Belle. I was afraid she’d freak out again and I had never been that great of a liar, contrary to popular belief a good actress was not always a good liar.

I was sitting on the deck of the ship sketching when Killian came up the ramp. “You seem very concerned with my well being,” he commented. 

I tapped the compass, which I had hanging open so I could see it. “It hasn’t moved.”

“You know that doesn’t always mean I’m with it.” 

“No one knows what it is, except for Emma and Mary Margret. No one is going to take it, and you aren’t going to take it off.” 

“It would be better if you went back to the inn, it’s not safe for you here.” 

“To die would be an awfully big adventure.” He frowned at me but before he could say anything else I noticed people coming down the dock. “Look, this conversation can end now.”

David, Mary Margret and one of the seven dwarves whose name I’d forgotten came up the ramp. I wasn’t surprised they’d been able to find the ship. “Where’s Cora?” David asked. 

“So she is here, I was wondering,” I murmured.

“I don’t know where she’s gone,” Killian told them. “I stay out of her way and she stays out of mine.” 

“You have to know something!” Mary Margret protested. 

Killian glanced at me. “Don’t look at me. If you know something about Cora’s plans, I want to know as much as they do.” 

He sighed and motioned us to follow him to the other end of the ship. There was a tarp coving something. “Cora asked me to keep that on my ship.”

No one made a move to pull the tarp off so I leaned over and yanked it off. “Is that the giant?” I asked surprised.

“The one who lived up the bean stalk?” Mary Margret asked. 

“He isn’t very giant,” David said.

“That’s him, Cora shrunk him,” Killian told us. 

“Why didn’t you tell me there was a giant on our ship?” I snapped. 

“I knew you wouldn’t like it.” 

“Of course I don’t like it!” 

“You are not part of Cora’s plans anymore. She doesn’t need you, and I’m not letting you get in her way. The last thing you need is someone that powerful as an enemy.” 

“Let him out,” Mary Margret ordered Killian. With a sigh he leaned over and undid the latch. Mary Margret leaned over and tapped the giant lightly. He started to wake up and when he fully opened his eyes he looked incredibly confused. 

“Get him out of here,” I told Mary Margret. She nodded and I decided the situation was under control and walked towards the other end of the ship. Killian followed me and I frowned at him. 

“You’re upset I didn’t tell you about the giant.”

“No,” I said. “I mean, yes. I’m annoyed about that. But that isn’t really why I’m mad.” I sighed. “Look, I don’t want either of us to be involved with Cora. And before you tell me that she’s your last hope of defeating Rumpelstiltskin, she isn’t. She’s just using you. We’ll find another way.” He didn’t look convinced. “Fine, whatever. Do what you want. I’ll stay out of it.” I went below deck and sat down in my cabin. 

My backpack sat untouched in the corner of the room. I grabbed it and unzipped the pocket where I had stuck my phone. I inspected it, half expecting to find it broken beyond repair but it just looked like a dead phone. I grabbed my charger and tucked it into my jacket pocket; maybe it was about time I checked back into the real world.

I walked back above deck; Killian was nowhere to be seen. I had opened my compass since he’d gotten back on board but curiosity got the better of me and I flipped it open. I tapped my nails on my phone debating whether I should go to the diner and ask Ruby if I could charge my phone or if I should go after Killian. With a groan, I checked the arrow again and began following it along the water. 

I reached a small grouping of warehouses not too far from the ship. I had always been light on my feet and I was careful not to make any noises. If Cora was around I didn’t want to bump into her. After a few moments I heard voices, one of them was obviously Killian’s but the woman wasn’t Cora. As I got closer I recognized the voice of the evil queen. 

I was a little bit surprised that Regina was working with her mother again after she had sent us to kill Cora not long ago. I didn’t want to get too close to the alley for fear that she’d notice me but I did take a few more steps forward so I could make out what she was saying. “…made amends,” I caught the end of Regina’s sentence. Seagulls drowned out what she said next.

“The giant escaped,” Killian told her. I assumed whatever she’d asked had to with what Cora sent her here to talk about. “He doesn’t like Charming,” Killian told her. “I heard them all arguing.” I hadn’t, must have happened after I went below deck.

“Interesting,” Regina said. I realized the conversation was coming to an end so I got out of there as quickly and quietly as I could. 

OoOoO

When I got to the diner, Ruby was leaning on the counter. She was resting her head on her hands and staring off into space. “Hi,” she said with a sigh when I sat down.

“What’s up?” I asked. 

“I finally went to see Belle,” she told me. She sat up and noticed that I was holding my phone and charger. “What your boyfriend doesn’t have electricity on his ship?” She asked but her teasing tone fell flat. She took the phone from my hand and plugged it up behind the counter. 

“What happened with Belle?” I asked. 

“Same thing that happened to you, I guess. I brought her a book, like you asked me to. She didn’t remember me, of course. She was really on edge and she kept asking me about Mr. Gold and how he healed her. She said he had a fireball too.”

“He hit Killian with it,” I said absently. 

She nodded. “I tried to tell her it must be because of the drugs they were giving her in there. You know, like they were giving her nightmares or something? She seemed pretty calm until I called her Belle, I think that set her off.” 

“I guess losing your memory like that would really take a big toll on a person.”

“Clearly.” 

After a moment I sighed. “I hate change.” 

“Was that about Belle, or something else?” She asked.

“It was about everything.”

“Sometime change is a good thing,” Ruby reminded me. “You know, like people don’t always have to change in a bad way.”

“People don’t ever change, it’s just the situations.”

Ruby smiled warily. “Well, you’re being a little pessimistic, don’t you think?” I shrugged. “Is there someone that you want to change?”

“Not so much the person, as the situation.”

“I think you can do it. But I also think that you need to be a little more optimistic about a certain person changing. It’s not going to happen over night, Wendy. I think that the fact that you want him to change says a lot about how far he’s already come.” 

“Ruby, where have you been all my life?”

“See that’s a funny story. I was kinda living in this world with magic and werewolves and giants and stuff.”

“Wow, outrageous!” 

“I know right!”


	9. Chapter 9

When I got back to the ship Killian was back and was leaning against the railing. “How’s Regina?” I asked. He turned around looking surprised. 

“You followed me.”

“Yep.” I said, though it hadn’t been a question. 

“I’m not going to make an enemy of Cora,” he told me. 

“I know, I don’t want to piss her off either. But I lied earlier when I said I’d stay out of it. I’m a part of this too.” He looked ready to argue over it. “I know something that you might want to hear, so you probably don’t want to do that.” 

He sighed. “What is it?” 

“While I was at the diner, Ruby told me that Emma and Henry were going to New York.”

“Ok?” 

I shot him a look to say I wasn’t done. “They went with Rumpelstiltskin. He’s powerless out there.”

“I’m supposed to meet Cora at the library,” he told me. 

“How are they going to help us?” I asked. “If they leave they’ll be just as useless as him.”

“What happens if I don’t kill him?” He asked. “Cora won’t be happy that I left without telling her.” 

“I’d rather take the Jolly Roger, but I’ll buy a plane ticket if I have to. I’m going to New York, Killian,” I said. “I have to find out what happened to my family.” 

“I’ll take you. But, I have to talk to Cora.”

I bit my lip. Anything that had to do with Cora sounded like a bad idea to me, but I wasn’t going to let him go alone. “Fine, yeah. I’m coming with you.”

OoOoO

We met Cora and Regina at the library. “Quick, we’re going to do this quickly,” I whispered to Killian. He nodded and we walked towards them. 

“Oh, Wendy Darling, how nice it is to see you again,” Cora said with a sickly sweet voice.

“I wish I could say the same.” 

“You should be thanking me, if it weren’t for my help your pirate would still be stuck in the Enchanted Forrest,” Cora told me. I shifted uncomfortably. She was right, but I wasn’t going to admit it. 

“Rumpelstiltskin isn’t in Storybrooke anymore,” Killian told Cora, changing the subject.

Cora shrugged. “I know. Regina and I won’t lose our memories but we will lose our powers, we’ll have no edge on him.”

“I don’t need magic to kill him,” Killian told them.

“While he’s gone we’ll be able to find his dagger. That is the only thing that will let us kill him while he’s in Storybrooke.”

“Why wait?” I asked. “What happens if you can’t find the dagger? Why not let Killian kill him now, while we have the chance?”

“Oh we’ll find the dagger,” Cora assured me.

“I’ve been wondering, Wendy,” Regina said, speaking for the first time. “Why haven’t you left Storybrooke yet? You can cross the line without losing your memories. You could go home.” 

Before I could answer Cora interrupted my thoughts. “I do hope it isn’t because of Killian. You know he’s only using you, as soon as you become a waste he’ll double cross you. He isn’t even capable of love anymore after what happened to his beloved Milah.”

“How to you expect us to find the dagger?” I asked. Regina presented a number that was seemingly the location of a book. “What are we waiting for?”

“It seems I struck a nerve,” Cora murmured. I took the paper with the number from Regina and walked through the aisles until I located the correct row. 

Regina ran her fingers across the books until she found the space. “It’s empty.” 

Cora reached into the empty space and withdrew a rolled map. She handed it to Killian. “I assume you can decode this.”

He nodded and took it to one of the desks. I continued to weave through the aisles, wanting to stay as far from Cora and Regina as possible. I pulled out my phone, it was fully charged but I’d yet to turn it on. I turned it on and waited as the messages came in. There were texts from my sorority sisters from after I’d disappeared and tons from John, not a single message from Michael or my parents. I had the realization that if I’d been gone for as long as I thought I had why would my cellphone still be working. After staring at John’s number for quite a long time I finally dialed. He answered on the first ring. “Wendy?” 

I hadn’t even realized I’d been shaking. “Oh my god, John.” 

“Where have you been? Do you know how much mom and dad have been worrying about you?” 

“I don’t have a single text from them or Michael,” I said.

He laughed. “I know. Mom wouldn’t even file a police report because she thought you’d finally lost it and moved to Australia. Grandma was being so weird about it, Michael kinda thought you’d moved in with her.”

“How long have I been gone?” I asked.

“Like four months, Wendy. Seriously, where were you?” He asked. Then quickly added, “Not that I was particularly worried about you or anything.” 

“Only four months,” I mumbled.

“Yeah, ok, I get that it probably felt longer than that. Are you going to answer my question or not?” 

“Oh um, mom was kinda right. I went to Europe.” 

“Are you back?” He asked. 

“Yeah, well I’m in Maine with some friends right now, but I’m coming back to the city very soon.” 

“Awesome! I’m home for winter break for the next month.” 

“You better not be in my room.” 

“Oh no, mom converted your room into a fitness studio.”

“You’re joking right?” 

“Nope, she did it before you disappeared. You were supposed to be taking your last two course hours this summer, then you’d be done and moving out of the house. At least that’s mom logic for you.” 

“Good thing I can’t stay long. Jeez, maybe I’ll just hang out with you. Obviously the rest of my family doesn’t care.”

“Well Michael and Sylvie are kinda busy with– oh wait! You don’t know. Sylvie is pregnant.” 

I snorted. “I bet mom is head over heels about that one.” 

“I’ve got it!” Killian called. 

“Who was that?” John asked.

“Tell you later. Bye kiddo!” I hung up and headed back towards the desks. As I turned around one of the stacks I heard Cora and Regina talking quietly.

“It’s almost time,” Cora said with a smile that I could only classify as evil. My gut feeling that this had been a bad idea had come back in full force. I reached Killian at the same time as Cora and she took the map away from him. “Very good, thank you. We’ll take it from here.” Killian started to go after her and she sent him flying back into a bookshelf. He crumpled on the floor unconscious. “That dagger is much too important to be wasted on you.”

“Be smart, Wendy,” Regina said before I even the chance to think about how I could possible attack them. The smart decision was to let them leave; there was no way I could take them. I stepped backwards and went towards Killian. Regina nodded at me before walking out with her mother. 

Killian regained consciousness after a few minutes, letting me know he wasn’t seriously injured. “What happened?” 

“Cora and Regina are gone, with the map. They didn’t have any intentions of letting you kill Rumpelstiltskin, they want his dagger for themselves.”

“I should have known.”

As much as I wanted to say I told you so, I refrained. “Ready to go to New York now?” I asked.

“We need to make one more stop first.” 

OoOoO

Ten minutes later we were down the street at the Storybrooke Police Station. “Do you know where it is, or are we going to have to go through all these drawers?” I asked. 

“I would assume the top one,” he said. “Considering it’s the only one that’s locked.” 

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.” The door opened and I turned around to see David coming in. I pulled Killian out of David’s sight. “Charming is here,” I whispered. David walked into the room and right past us. Killian hit him over the head with a pipe. “Why is there always a pipe just laying around?” I asked to myself. 

I stepped over David and reached for his key ring. “One of these probably unlocks that drawer.” I tossed them to Killian. I patted David on the back. “Sorry, about that. You seem like a pretty good person.”

“He’s unconscious, not dead,” Killian said.

“So were you a little bit ago,” I reminded him. “He’s nice that’s all. This whole town is actually. But once Rumpelstiltskin is out of the way, there will be plenty of time to be nice back.”

“You know he can’t hear you apologize.” 

“Why are you being so snappy?” I asked. 

“Why are you being so sentimental?” He retorted. 

I shrugged. “I talked to my brother earlier, I think it reminded me of who I was before all of this.” Killian didn’t say anything just resumed going through the keys.

“I’ve got it,” Killian said opening the drawer and pulling out his hook. “Time to go.” 

OoOoO

We took the ship to New York. Neither of us really talked to each other, though I didn’t sulk below deck or anything. I wanted to make it clear I wasn’t mad at him, even if he seemed to be annoyed at me for whatever reason.

Eventually I dozed off and when I woke up we’d reach New York. The best thing about an enchanted ship was that we appeared to move more quickly. I didn’t understand how the ship didn’t lose its invisibility when we left Storybrooke, if Cora and Regina would lose their magic, but I didn’t ask. 

Killian and I disembarked and I hoped that another ship didn’t try to dock in our port while we were here. I could see the Intrepid a few ports away and got my bearings. “Do you know where Mr. Gold and Emma are?” I asked. He nodded. “Not that I want to ditch you, because obviously this is not your comfort zone, but I promised my brother I’d come see him.”

“I can do this on my own,” he assured me. 

“I mean, I thought we could just make it quick. Then we could go meet John together,” I said a little awkwardly.

“Go see your brother.” He looked around and then walked in the opposite direction of where I needed to go. 

I tugged on my compass absently. “I’ll find you later,” I called weakly. I wasn’t even sure he cared at this point. To say I was extremely confused about his sudden attitude problem would be an understatement. I hailed a taxi and crossed my fingers that my credit card still worked liked my phone had.

OoOoO

With traffic it took about twenty minutes to get to the east side of Manhattan. I must have looked like a tourist with my dirty backpack and muddy boots, which I couldn’t bear to part with even after I’d bought a new wardrobe in Storybrooke, because my driver took me around Central Park and like a little kid I pressed my nose against the glass. This had been my city, why had I ever left? The thought that I’d chosen to move to Texas, of all places, baffled me. 

“This is it,” I said when we turned on my building’s block. “Home sweet home.” The cabbie looked a little confused at that, I couldn’t blame him; I certainly didn’t look like the kind of girl that lived in one of the nicest buildings on the Upper East Side. I paid and hopped out. There was a new doorman, who obviously didn’t recognize me and had to call up to my loft. Finally he nodded me in but watched me suspiciously. I rolled my eyes and flipped my hair, falling easily into the roll of high society heiress, which I’d wanted so badly to escape as a teen.

I waited for the elevator to reach the ground floor. When the doors opened John burst out and hugged me. “You haven’t changed a bit,” I said. 

“That’s not true, I’ve totally bulked up.”

I laughed. “If you say so, kiddo.”

“About that, considering I’m eighteen now, you missed my birthday by the way, I’m going to need you to stop calling me kiddo.” 

“You’re still a child to me,” I told him.

“I’ve got macarons waiting for you upstairs and you’re not going to get them if you call me kiddo again.” 

“They’re not from Ladurée are they?” I asked. We got into the elevator and he pressed the button for the top floor. 

“Do you think I don’t know you? They’re from La Maison du Chocolat, I know you like theirs better,” he told me. “I’ve only been your brother for eighteen years.” 

I sighed. “This is why you will always be my favorite brother.” 

“Michael is a jerk, I really don’t have any competition.”

“How’s the golden coast treating you?” I asked as we got off. I smiled as I looked around the loft; it was exactly like I remembered it. 

“USC is great, SoCal is great, the weather is perfect, and I literally have no idea why I’m in New York in the middle of December.” 

“Because you just knew your favorite sister would turn up and obviously you had to see me.” 

“Apparently. Now do I get to hear the whole story?” He asked. He handed me my box of macarons. 

I shrugged. “I wasn’t getting along with a certain group of people at school, so I decided I needed a break.”

“You had two course hours left.” 

“Ok yeah, I didn’t pick the best time to have a mental break. But hey, I had a lot of fun and I met some really great people.”

“Is one of those people that guy I heard on the phone?” He asked.

“Maybe.” I stuffed an entire macaron in my mouth so he couldn’t get an answer out of me right away.

“You said you weren’t staying long, how long is that?” 

I chewed quickly and swallowed. “Well, um, I’m not actually sure. But I’m leaving tomorrow at the latest.” 

“Whoa, you weren’t kidding. What’s so important that you have to disappear on me that quickly?” He asked.

“It’s kind of a matter of life or death,” I said. He laughed and I smiled like I’d kidding.

“You did meet a guy, Jesus Wendy, mom is going to flip.”

“Mom isn’t going to care. She hasn’t cared since I was born.”

“Michael and I are the favorites.” He grinned.

I rolled my eyes. “That’s an understatement.” I got up and walked over to the window and looked out over the city. From this high up I could almost see the spot where I thought we’d docked the ship but obviously I couldn’t see it. “I don’t belong here anymore,” I whispered. “I need to go home.” 

“Texas?” 

“No, definitely not Texas.”

“Maine?” He guessed again. “What’s in Maine besides lobster?”

I turned back to the window and looked out into the distance, the open water was too far for me to see but I knew it was out there calling for me to get back on the ship and sail away. I shrugged. “I don’t know. Honestly I don’t know where home is anymore. I just don’t think I can stay here after everything.” 

“Not even for the macarons?” He asked. 

I turned and faced him and smiled sadly. I gave him a hug. “I hope I see you again, John. Goodbye.”


	10. Chapter 10

I had no idea where I was going and my taxi driver seemed incredibly annoyed that I kept telling him to change directions. “Jesus, Killian, where are you?” I mumbled to myself. 

“Why don’t you just call him?” The driver asked.

“He doesn’t have a phone,” I said, groaning. 

“Look, lady, as much as this is going to cost you, we left my borough six blocks back. Not to mention, my shift is almost over and I want to go home.”

“Fine, just take me to the cruise terminal,” I told him. He grumbled but turned back around and headed back up Manhattan. When we finally arrived I paid and went towards the ship. As I got closer I started to realize something didn’t seem quite right. I reached the spot where the gangway should be and took a careful stepped forwards. I was very glad I had noticed something was up first; otherwise I would have gone right into the water. The Jolly Roger was gone.

Maybe that was why the compass had been so screwed up. “Where the hell are you, Killian?” I yelled, as if he’d call out from the ship as it was leaving the dock or something. But of course there was no response.

OoOoO

Because of my sudden lack of transportation I needed a flight to Maine. To get a flight I needed money. But, of course, because my life could never be easy, my credit card was suddenly being declined. When I called Chase they told me that it was because I hadn’t used the card in such a long time until today. I argued that I was obviously in my hometown and told them my account password, but they told me I would have to contact their offices to have my card reissued.

I didn’t want to go home but I had little choice. If I wanted to get back to Storybrooke I needed money. When I arrived at my old home my parents were there. They were eating dinner with John in the dinning room. My mother saw me first and she stopped in the middle of her sentence, fork dangling in the air. 

My father turned around to see what she was gawking at. “Wendy?” 

“You didn’t tell them I was back?” I asked John. 

“Not yet, clearly,” John mumbled. 

“Where have you been? We’ve been so worried about you!” My mother said dropping her fork and rushing to my side. She hugged me and I hugged her back uncomfortably. Typical Mary Darling behavior, she was the very definition of artificial.

“Yeah, whatever, I’m fine.” 

“Why are you here?” My dad asked. As always he was very straightforward. My parents hadn’t changed a bit, but I had. 

“I need money.” 

“What for honey?” Mom asked letting me go.

“Are you in trouble, I know a good lawyer, we’ll keep this all under wraps.” 

“No, George, I’m not in trouble.” Not exactly. “I just need to get somewhere and my credit card is out of service at the moment.” 

“I can call and get that all cleared up for you,” my mother said.

“Where are you going?” My father asked. I could tell I was about to get the third degree. “Do you need to go to rehab?” I saw John roll his eyes over my dad’s shoulder. 

“Jesus Christ, I’m not an addict. I don’t have a huge gambling debt, there isn’t anyone after me and I’m not pregnant. I just want to go home. Does that answer any questions you might have?” 

“You know you’re welcome here anytime,” my mom said sweetly. “This is your home.”

“No, it’s not.” 

My dad nodded and went to his laptop. “Where do you need to go?” 

“Maine, and I’ll need a car there too.”

“Your flight leaves tomorrow and you’ll have a rental waiting on you.”

OoOoO

Crossing the border into Storybrooke felt great. Like a weight had lifted off my shoulders. I hadn’t realized how much stress my family was putting on me. For the foreseeable future, I had no plans to return, ever. Sure I didn’t exactly belong in Storybrooke, I wasn’t a fairy tale character, but I wasn’t sure I belonged anywhere in the real world either.

The first thing I did was stop at the diner. Ruby waved me over when I came in. “You look seriously annoyed,” she noted. 

“Well, it was a pretty crappy trip, that’s all. Have you seen Killian?” I asked. 

She shook her head. “He’s not with you? I thought you took his ship.” 

“We did, but he left without me.”

“He did what?” 

“I went to get back on the ship but it was gone. Are Emma and Mr. Gold back?” I asked. 

She nodded and pointed at the booth Belle and I had sat in the first day we’d met. “Emma and Henry are over there. Want me to get you anything?” 

“No, I’m fine, thanks.” I walked over to Emma and Henry. I noticed that Henry was barely looking at his mother and it crossed my mind that they may not have had a very nice trip either.

“Wendy, hey,” she said. She flicked her hair back almost like a nervous gesture and glanced at Henry quickly before looking back to me. 

“You haven’t seen Killian have you?” 

She shook her head. “Not since we got back.” 

“Did you see him in New York?” I asked. 

She shook her head first, but then sighed and nodded. “He attacked Mr. Gold.”

“And Mr. Gold is…?” 

“Alive.”

Part of me groaned. I should have been there. The other part of me was still upset I’d gotten ditched. “And Killian isn’t here?”

“I’m not surprised, we took his ship.” 

“What? So he didn’t leave me.” 

“I’m sorry we took your ride, I didn’t even realize you were in New York. We really needed to get Mr. Gold back, he’d been poisoned.”

“Yeah, ok. I guess I should call my brother and see if he can find Killian. Bye.” I headed out and was about to go up back to the inn when I saw Belle a few blocks down with none other than Rumplestiltskin. 

She waved at me wildly. “Wendy!” I walked towards her and the waited for me on the corner. Mr. Gold nodded at me politely but I ignored him.

“Belle? Did you get your memories back?” I asked. 

“Yeah, but, I’m not Belle. I’m still not really sure where everyone has gotten that. My name is Lacey,” she told me. I glanced at Mr. Gold; he looked just as concerned about her as I was.

“Oh, alright,” I said lamely. 

“You should definitely come to dinner with us!” She suggested. “We’re going to eat at the Rabbit Hole, that’s where I work.”

“I haven’t been there.” 

“They make killer burgers,” she assured me. We walked down a few more blocks and into the pub. “I’ll go put in our orders, we’ll get it quicker.” Mr. Gold and I chose a booth and sat across from each other. 

“Your pirate attempted to kill me,” he told me.

“So I’ve heard, too bad he failed.”

“I haven’t seen him since then,” he said, answering my unasked question. “He probably grew tired of commitment. You aren’t very helpful, are you?” 

I ignored his jab. “What happened to Belle?” 

“Regina gave Belle her cursed memories.” 

“Where’s Cora?” 

“Dead.” 

“Oh.” Well at least one thing had gone right.

Belle returned to the table. “Three cheeseburgers, coming right up.” 

“Actually, I think I’ve lost my appetite,” I told her.

“Oh come on, stick around!”

“I should really be getting somewhere. We can catch up later, Lacey.” 

“Yeah, I’ll see you around.” She shrugged and slid into the booth. “I guess I get two burgers, awesome,” she said as I walked away.

When I left the bar I didn’t know where I was going. But soon I was in my car and driving towards Regina’s house. I didn’t know what had happened to Killian, if he’d be back soon or if he was even still alive. For all I knew he could have returned and Rumplestiltskin could have already killed him. Regina was my last hope to finish what Hook had started. 

I arrived at the mayor’s house. I took a second for me to get up the nerve to go knock. I decided that Regina couldn’t be as bad a Cora, and now that Cora was gone I didn’t have any reason to be afraid of Regina. When I finally did knock it took a few minutes for Regina to come to the door, I was beginning to think she wasn’t even home. “Wendy, what a coincidence. Come to ally with me? You’re right on time.” I didn’t understand what she meant until I walked into her office and saw Killian. 

“You’re alive,” I said, sighing in relief. He hugged me.

“I was abducted by a woman working with Greg Mendell.” 

“The guy who hit you with his car?” I asked. “He’s not just some tourist?” 

“Not in the slightest,” Regina said. “As touching as this reunion is, we have more important things to discuss.” 

I turned to face her and she directed me to a container in the corner with a plant. “What are those?” I asked.

“Magic beans. Like the one that brought you back here from the Enchanted Forrest, I suppose.” 

“Are you going somewhere?” I asked.

“We all are, if you’re willing to help.” I waited for her to continue. “I plan on activating a failsafe that will destroy Storybrooke and everyone in it. Of course I have my magic beans as a means of escape. I will take both of you with me if you help me.”

I didn’t have time to process the idea and I could tell she was anxious to get started so I just nodded. “Yeah, ok.”

OoOoO

We headed to the library. The last time I had been here Cora and Regina had double-crossed us. We headed down the elevator and underground. The longer I thought about the plan the worse it sounded. I knew that by destroying Storybrooke Rumplestiltskin would go down with it, but so would everyone else I had gotten to know. I had spent enough time around the people here to realize they were inherently good; I didn’t want them all wiped out. 

The elevator screeched to a halt. When the doors opened and we stepped out into the cavernous space I realized how far underground we were. I walked a few paces behind Killian and Regina and watched them talk. I saw her catch his wrist and I noticed he was wearing one of Cora’s bracelets. I was surprised to still see he still had it. He removed it and handed it to her. 

After a moment I walked forward and grabbed Killian’s arm and pulled him a little farther ahead of Regina. “We can’t do this,” I whispered. “I can’t kill all of these people.”

He nodded. “I know that these people are important to you. There are people that are helping us. If we can stop her, we will. As long as I can kill Rumplestiltskin.” I nodded and glanced over my shoulder at Regina. 

We reached a cliff and Regina stopped. “I have an old friend guarding the trigger. I could always make her stay away from me, magically, but if the two of you are going to double-cross me, I might as well go for a simpler technique.” She waved her arm and Killian and I were flung over the edge of the cliff. My fingers caught a ledge and I clung to it. It took all my strength to pull myself up to the ledge and then I had to crawl back up to the top of the cliff.

When I reached the top I tried to look for Killian below but fog clouded the air. A loud roar ripped through the silence. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, I didn’t even know who could help me. Then I got an idea. I got in the elevator and went back to the library, I ran out into the street and began to head back to the inn but I ran right into the people I’d been looking for. “You’re Greg Mendell.”

“And you’re Wendy Darling,” he noted. “What were you running from, or should I ask what were you running to?” 

“Killian is in trouble, you’re working with him aren’t you?” I asked. 

The woman with Greg nodded. “We followed him here, where is he?” She asked.

“Underground, come on we need to hurry before Regina finds the trigger.” 

“Is she wearing the bracelet?” Greg asked. I nodded. “She won’t be a problem.” 

Greg and the woman shared a look. “We have this under control here, there’s a bag in my room at the inn that we’re going to need. It’s in the third dresser drawer. My fiancé may be there, but just tell him that Tamara sent you for her running stuff. Room 15.” She handed me a key.

I didn’t want to leave Killian but if he had decided to work with Greg and Tamara, they were probably useful. There certainly wasn’t anything I could do to save him. So I reluctantly headed back to the inn.


	11. Chapter 11

I took the steps to the second floor and walked up to the door. I used the key and at first it wouldn’t turn so I tried again. “Emma, you need to let it go,” someone said from the steps. I turned around just as the man reached the top of the steps and saw me. He looked confused for a moment, “Wendy?” 

“Do I know you?” I asked. 

“It’s been a long time, wow you look exactly the same,” he still looked confused. Finally he realized I had asked a question. “It’s Baelfire, remember.” 

“Bae?” Now it was my turn to be confused. “You grew up.” 

“Yeah, but you haven’t.” He held his arms out for me to hug him and I did. I hadn’t seen him in what felt like centuries. He was one of the only boys that actually listened to me; he’d always been my favorite. “Have you been there this whole time?” He asked.

“No, I was in the Enchanted Forrest for a while. Wow, I guess I really was right about time moving differently there.”

“How did you escape?” He asked.

I was confused by his choice of verb, Neverland hadn’t been perfect but as far as I remembered it hadn’t been anything I’d needed to escape. I might have asked how I had gotten home. “Killian, I mean Hook, helped me get home.” My phone rang and I pulled it out, it was from a number I didn’t recognize. “Hello?”

“Wendy, it’s Tamara. Turns out we don’t need that bag tonight, but we’re going to meet you tomorrow at the mines. Do you think you can bring it then?” 

“Yeah, ok, I think I bumped into your fiancé, I’ll get him to get it for me.” Bae looked at me questioningly. “Is Killian alright?” I asked.

“He’s on his way back to your ship right now,” she assured me. “Can you tell Neal that I probably won’t be back tonight?” 

“Ok?” 

“See you tomorrow.” She hung up. I got the acute feeling that she was specifically keeping me out of something, though I didn’t know what. 

“That was Tamara?” Bae asked.

I nodded. “She sent me to get her running stuff. She wants me to bring it to her tomorrow. She told me to tell you she probably wouldn’t be back here tonight.”

“Did she say what was going on?” He asked.

I shrugged. I had the feeling he didn’t know anything about Greg and their alliance with Killian. “She also called you Neal.”

“That is my name,” he said, unlocking his door. He opened the drawer and handed me Tamara’s bag. 

“How boring.” 

“And Wendy isn’t?” 

“Well when your choices are Wendy, Moira, or Angela, you work with what you’re given.” 

“Can I start calling you Angela?” He asked.

“I won’t ever speak to you again.”

He laughed. “I guess I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah, for sure. We need to catch up.” 

OoOoO

I arrived at the Jolly Roger before Killian did this time I sat on the railing waiting for him to get back. I snapped open the compass and watched the arrow move. It was the only reason I believed Tamara had gotten him out. If he were dead it would be frozen. Unless Tamara or Greg took it, I thought. “Breathe, Wendy,” I scolded myself. 

I had no reason to distrust Greg and Tamara. Other than the fact that I knew absolutely nothing about them, I knew Tamara was hiding something from me and she was lying to Baelfire. Ok, I had a plenty of good reasons to distrust them. 

Finally I saw Killian at the end of the dock. I tried to act cool, even though I knew he wouldn’t be able to see me until he stepped on the gangway, but I failed miserably. As soon as he was on the ship I was standing right in front of him. “What was down there?” I asked. 

“A dragon.” 

“Dragons are real?” I asked. “Wait, was it Maleficent? Like Aurora’s arch nemesis or whatever?” 

“You know I don’t understand you when you start talking about fairytales.” 

I rolled my eyes. “I’m glad your ok.” We both walked to the bow of the ship. “Why were you acting so-?“

“Why didn’t you stay in New York?” He asked, cutting me off.

“You thought I’d stay in New York?” I asked surprised.

“You seemed happy to be going back. You said it reminded you of who you were before everything.”

“You obviously don’t know my family history.”

“No, I don’t. I don’t know anything about you, because you shut everyone out.”

“No, I don’t. I just haven’t told you, because you haven’t asked.” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. “Ruby was right, this is a passive aggressive relationship. Ironic, considering we’re both pretty violent.”

“I’m asking now,” he said seriously.

“That’s not enough, I need you to ask something. I’m not just going to tell you my entire life story, you wouldn’t find that interesting.” I leaned against the railing.

“Fine, tell me about your family.” He didn’t sound annoyed, he sounded like he genuinely wanted to know, which was new.

I took a deep breath. “I’ve told you about my grandmother, she and her dog Nana lived with us until John started first grade, she basically raised us. After that Mary kicked her out, my mother doesn’t particularly like her mother-in-law so as soon as Michael could babysit, we became his responsibility. Michael was basically an adult by the time he was thirteen. The worst thing is that Mary has convinced herself that she’s this perfect mother. My dad isn’t much better.”

“You still didn’t have to come back with me.”

“Technically, I didn’t come back with you. I would have come back even if it weren’t for you,” I told him. He looked unimpressed. “I’ve been surrounded by lifeless, indifferent people my entire life. They didn’t do anything, they sat around talking about things that they believed but never did anything about to get what they wanted. They didn’t fight for anything. Then I met you, and Emma and, Mulan, and the Charmings and hell even Rumplestiltskin. All of you are so invested in what you want. You’ll do anything to get it. There’s something so empowering in that, I feel like I have to go along for the ride or I’m going to become just like my parents and everyone else I’ve ever known.”

“I think that’s the most you’ve ever talked about yourself,” he said. “What were you going to ask, before I interrupted you?” 

“Oh, I was going to ask why you were acting so weird before we went to New York, but now I think I know.” 

“I’m glad you came back.” He stepped towards me and put his arms on the railing around me so I was trapped.

“I’m glad I did too,” I said quietly. I tilted my head up and kissed him. He leaned towards me and his compass fell forward and clinked against mine. I knew that if they were open they’d be pointing right at each other, right at their counterpart.

OoOoO 

The next day we met Greg and Tamara in the mines. I gave Tamara her bag but she didn’t remove anything from it, making me believe even more that it had just been an excuse to send me away. Greg picked up one of the dwarves’ pickaxes. We walked father into the mine until Greg stopped and looked around. “This is the place.” Tamara removed a pouch from her pocket and took out a small brown stone. 

“That’s the failsafe?” I asked. 

She nodded. “Our sources tell us that to activate it we can hit it with one of the pick axes. From here it will slowly destroy the entire town and everyone in it.”

“Are you two prepared to die for your cause?” Greg asked us. 

It dawned on me how close we were to killing every single person in Storybrooke. It wasn’t supposed to get this far. “I don’t want to kill everyone. Just Regina and Rumplestiltskin. And I don’t want to die. I didn’t come back here to die!” I told them backing away. 

“Wendy, calm down,” Killian said. He stepped towards me and grabbed my wrists. He looked at me seriously, trying to convey something that I couldn’t understand. 

“I can’t do it.”

“We don’t have a choice,” he whispered.

“No,” I whimpered, but he was right, no matter what we did Greg and Tamara were going to activate that trigger. 

“Everything ok?” Greg asked, as if he hadn’t heard the entire exchange. 

“Cold feet, that’s all,” Killian told him. “We’re ready.” I gripped Killian’s hand tightly. Greg nodded and lifted the pickaxe above the stone. When he hit the stone a burst of light exploded from it, knocking us all back.

“Our home office will be extremely please with this,” Tamara told Greg.

“I think, we’re going to go,” I told them. They barely seemed to notice as Killian and I left. “What do we do now?” I asked. I hadn’t even realized how much I was shaking. I had been in sword fights, Cora had attacked me, but never had I been this terrified that I was going to die. The worst part wasn’t even my own impending death; it was that I had just been a part of the deaths of hundreds of others. 

“We’re going to fix this,” Killian told me.

“The failsafe is activated, how are we going to stop it?” I asked.

“Regina and the Charmings will have a plan, they always do,” he told me. We exited the mines. “Wendy, you aren’t going to die. I’m going to get you out of here.”

“We’ll get out of here,” I corrected him. “Now, come on, you’re right. I’m sure Emma and the others have a plan.” 

OoOoO

Emma’s apartment was packed. “Looks like our invitation got lost in the mail, Darling,” Killian said. 

“What are you doing here?” Emma asked. 

“We’re here to help.”

“More like we’re here to get help,” I amended.

“You’re working with Tamara and Greg,” Mary Margret said. 

“Ok yeah, not the best decision we’ve ever made, I’ll admit that,” I said. “But we’re going to have to work together or we’re all going to die.” 

“Way to look on the bright side,” Emma said.

“She’s right,” Regina told Emma. “They’ve activated the trigger, haven’t they?” I nodded. “We have to get the beans, there isn’t another option.” 

“They took the beans?” I asked. 

“All of them.”

“That wouldn’t be a problem, if Regina hadn’t destroyed ours,” Mary Margret said quietly. 

“We’re obviously all tense, but we need to make a plan,” Emma said. 

“Finally the plan,” Killian mumbled. 

“There’s no way to reverse the failsafe?” I asked Regina. 

“The best I can do is slow it down, but that’ll only put off the inevitable.” 

“That’s good, that’ll give us enough time to steal back the beans,” David said. 

“I know where Greg and Tamara are,” Killian told David. “Wendy and I can bring them here.” 

“I don’t trust you, either of you,” Emma said, she gave me an apologetic look but I didn’t blame her. “Wendy stays, David goes with Hook. Hook isn’t going to use the beans if Wendy isn’t with him.”

“You don’t know that,” Killian and I said at the same time. 

“You can tell me how selfish you both are all you want,” Emma said. “But I know you, you’re a team.” I rolled my eyes, but she was right. 

“Fine, what do I do?” I asked.

“You’ll go with Mary Margret and Henry to gather the town. We’ll need everyone together when it’s time to open the portal.” 

Mary Margret gave me an uneasy look but nodded. “Alright, but we should hurry.” 

OoOoO

“This would be quicker if we split up,” Henry told Mary Margret. 

She glanced at me. “We can’t.”

I sighed. “Look, I get that you don’t like me. But I swear that I didn’t want any of this to happen, I never wanted to get anyone killed. I like you people. Hell, I even wanted to live here. Sure, the town wasn’t my first priority, but can you blame me? Killian and myself come first. That’s all I’ve had for months.” 

“I understand, but I don’t know how I can trust that you won’t help yourself again.”

“She’s trying to help now,” Henry said. “Right, Wendy?” 

I nodded. “I want to help. He’s right, we can cover more ground if we split up.” 

Mary Margret thought for a moment but finally nodded. “Get everyone downtown, tell them to meet at the diner.” 

I nodded. “I’ll get Ruby to help.”

“Thank you.”


	12. Chapter 12

“Where’s my mom?” Henry asked Emma. We had all gathered in the diner with as much of the town as we could find.

Emma looked guilty and it took her a moment to answer him. “She wanted to sacrifice herself for the town. She said that she could destroy it but it would kill her.”

“You can’t let her do that!” 

“Henry’s right,” Mary Margret said. “Regina may not be the best person but we can’t let her die, not when we’re so close to being able to escape.” 

“Here comes David now,” one of the seven dwarves called out. Sure enough David and Killian were approaching the diner. I hadn’t realized how many of us had been holding our breaths until David came grinning with a small bag and we all exhaled at once. 

“Regina is still in the mines,” Mary Margret told David. “We’re going to get her out and take her with us.” 

David nodded and tossed the pouch to Emma. Before Emma could catch it Killian snatched it out of the air. “If Regina wants to die, I say we let her die. This could be our only chance to get out.”

“We’re saving her,” Emma said.

“Maybe you are, but I’m not. Let’s go, Darling.”

I shook my head. “I can’t leave them, Killian. I’m not going to let them die, any of them, not even Regina.” I looked at Henry and then back at Killian. “That’s his mother, you already took one boys mother away from him, do you really want to do that again?” I asked. I knew bringing up Milah was a low blow, but it was an effective one. He handed Emma the pouch. 

“Henry already lost one parent, I’m going to make sure he doesn’t lose another,” Emma said.

I knew it was an inappropriate time to ask questions but I couldn’t help it. “Who?” 

“Neal was his father and Tamara killed him.” 

I felt like someone had just kicked me in the gut. I’d just seen him. We’d been in Neverland for a month together before he’d disappeared, I hadn’t seen him until yesterday and now he was gone. I wish I could have remembered more about him, something that I could say to Henry or Emma to tell them that I understood how they felt. 

But all I knew were facts; I’d treated each and every one of those boys like my own even when they were rude or annoying. Bae had been new when I’d arrived and he still remembered his home, we had traded stories. I had wanted to catch up with him, trade stories again. It almost felt like losing a child even though I knew he’d grown up. 

“I’m sorry,” I said finally. Emma looked at me, really looked at me, and nodded. Even though she couldn’t have known anything about Neverland or what I’d just thought through in my head, she could tell how much I understood, even if I felt like I didn’t have a right to. 

Killian touched my arm and guided me out of the diner. Neither of us said anything to each other. I’d almost forgotten bringing up Milah, but I didn’t know if he had. Or maybe he was being quiet so I could process the fact that this was the first time someone I knew had died. I drove to the dock and we headed to the ship. 

I went as far to the bow as I could get without actually climbing out onto the bowsprit and sunk down against the railing. Killian went to the stern and began steering the ship away from the dock. I didn’t think we’d be able to make it to safety before the failsafe kicked in, but he was trying.

Finally he gave up and walked back to me. “Why can’t I remember?” I asked. I glanced up at him and he looked away quickly. He appeared to be struggling with something, like he wanted to say something but couldn’t do it. “Does that just happen? Do you just go numb? Was it because of Cora’s time bubble?” 

He continued to avoid eye contact with me. Finally he knelt down in front of me and held out his hand, he had the two remaining magic beans. “How did you get those?” I asked. 

He shrugged. “We can go wherever you like.”

“You brought us out here so the people in Storybrooke wouldn’t know,” I realized. 

“I don’t know if Baelfire told you this, but before he reached the island he was on my ship.” I shook my head slightly. “I knew who he was, that he was Milah’s son, and I wanted to protect him. I offered to let him stay on the ship, but once he realized who I was he didn’t want anything to do with me. He said I could only care about myself and I proved him right, I gave him to Peter. To you Peter may have just been another child, but he was more evil than you could see.” 

The way he said it, it seemed like he was giving me a clue. But the clue was for a scavenger hunt I didn’t know I was on. “Bae was wrong, you’ve changed. You can change, if you want to. But to do that we have to take the beans back.” 

He sighed but nodded and stood up. “I thought you’d say that.” We hadn’t gotten that far; I could still see the dock. There was someone waiting for us. By the time we had reached the dock the group had multiplied. I was ready to let down the gangway as soon as we got to the dock. “You’re going to fall off the ship if you don’t wait until the anchor drops,” Killian grumbled. I didn’t listen and jumped from the ship to the dock. 

Belle had been the first person standing on the dock. “Belle?”

She nodded. “I have my memories back. My real memories.”

“I didn’t like Lacey,” Ruby said coming to stand next to us. 

“Neither did I,” Belle said. 

“Did they stop the failsafe?” I asked. Belle and Ruby nodded. I turned around and looked for the Charmings, who had stopped a few yards away from the ship. “Excuse me,” I told my friends. I walked up to Emma. “I’m sorry about Killian taking the beans, I didn’t know about it. He brought them back.” 

“Good, we’re going to need them,” Emma told me. 

“Did something else happen?” I asked.

“Greg and Tamara took Henry through a portal,” Regina told me. “Mr. Gold thinks he can track them but we need to hurry.” 

“Yeah, of course.” I nodded towards the ship. I led the group towards Killian, but Belle grabbed my arm. I motioned for the others to board; I expected they’d inform Killian.

“Wendy, before you go, I just wanted to say that I know you, Hook, and Rumplestiltskin may not really be on the best terms, but I’d like it if you didn’t kill him.”

“I think that we’re done with that,” I assured her. “I think Killian put revenge behind him. Taking the high road and all of that?”

“Follow your heart. I think you have a good one.” She hugged me.

“I’ll see you when we get back. It might not be that long, what with the time lapse and everything.” I shrugged. “I haven’t worked it out. I mean I was planning on going grad school at FIT not MIT, what does a fashion designer know about the space time continuum?” Belle just laughed like she understood a thing that I’d said.

“Wendy, we’re leaving!” Killian called.

“Right. Bye, Belle!” I turned around and jogged back on deck. “We know where we’re going?” I asked. Killian nodded grimly. “Where?” I prompted.

“Neverland.”

OoOoO

Emma found me in my cabin; I was furiously ripping some of my new wardrobe apart. “Whoa, what did those clothes ever do to you?” 

I looked up surprised. “Nothing. I just wanted to make something else with them. You know the clothes I was wearing when you found me? My own creations, made from Milah’s old stuff. Now I have new material. It’s kind of a nervous habit I guess. I’ve been doing it a lot since I left Neverland. I never really did it before that.” 

“You might find answers in Neverland.” 

“Answers for what?” I asked.

“For why you can’t remember it. You can act like it doesn’t bother you, but I know you want to know what happened to you there.” 

I shrugged and grabbed a box off the table. “Macaron?” I offered. She nodded and took one. 

“Did you get these while you were in New York?” She asked, taking a small bite.

I nodded. “John made me take two suitcases worth of my old stuff and he bought me a massive box of my favorite macarons. I was too upset to eat them on the way home though. They’ve gone a little stale.” 

“Still tastes good to me.” 

I shrugged. “I’m sorry, about Henry and Neal. That must really suck.” 

“You knew Neal, didn’t you?” She asked.

I nodded. “From Neverland. Wish I could tell you more about him.”

“But you can’t remember.” 

“Nope.” There was a sudden jolt and several of my things flew off the table onto the floor. “I think we’re here.” I tossed my sketchbook and the dress I’d been working on onto my bed. “Let’s go take a look.”

Emma went to talk to her parents and I headed towards Killian at the wheel. I looked out towards the island, it was hard to see it through the fog but what I did see was dark and foreboding. It certainly wasn’t the tropical paradise I’d remembered. 

“What happened here?” I asked Killian. He didn’t answer. “Has Neverland always looked like this?” He nodded; he had the same look as when I’d asked him why I couldn’t remember Neverland clearly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think we’d ever be back here. You had such a perfect picture of this place, I thought it would be better if you remembered it that way.” 

I removed one of his hands from the wheel and slipped in between it and him. “Teach me how to steer.”

“You already know how to,” he reminded me. I frowned even though I wasn’t facing him. 

“Humor me.” He sighed. He took my hands and moved them to the wheel, keeping his hands on top of mine. He looked over my right shoulder and I turned back and kissed him on the cheek. I had been trying to distract him and it appeared to work. I could already feel him relaxing. 

“Don’t you think the professional should be steering?” Regina asked, startling Killian and I. “I mean this is a life and death situation.”

“Wendy knows exactly what she’s doing,” Killian snapped. He was on edge once again and I sighed in defeat. “We’ll go around the island and sail up the river so we can surprise him,” he told me. He looked at our new crew. The Charmings huddled together talking while Rumplestiltskin stared at the island intently. “We spent ages trying to leave this place, only to be back with the man we planned to kill.” 

“If this was a novel that would be an example of situational irony,” I mumbled.

“Not exactly the happy ending I expected.”

“Greg Mendell told me that villains don’t get a happy ending,” Regina said quietly. No one said anything and eventually she walked away. 

“I don’t believe that,” I said. “Honestly, I don’t really believe in villains or heroes. No one is one hundred percent bad or one hundred percent good. But even if there are real villains, I don’t think there’s a single one on this ship. People don’t care about villains.” I looked down at the rest of the group and noticed that Rumplestiltskin was missing. “Where did he go? He was standing right there a second ago.” 

“Do you think you can keep this under control for a moment?” Killian asked. I nodded and he went down below deck. 

He’d barely been gone ten minutes when the ship started rocking. It wasn’t anything I was doing, I’d just been slowly sailing the ship to the far side of the island, and I hadn’t even started to turn it towards the river yet. “What’s going on?” David called. I ran to the edge of the ship and looked overboard. A woman popped out of the water and sneered at me. 

“Mermaids!” I shouted back to the others. “Get Killian!” I ran back to the wheel and tried to get us back on track. I heard someone fire a cannon and saw a flash of light as Regina hurled a fireball into the water. Hands grabbed mine and I looked up to see Killian.

“Calm them down,” he ordered me. I descended the steps to the main deck just in time to see Emma and Mary Margret lifting a mermaid onto the deck. 

“What are you doing?” I yelled at them. “You don’t know what mermaids can do, put her back!”

“We should question her,” Regina said.

“Question her about what?” I asked. “Put her back!” I demanded. A loud noise interrupted our argument and I turned to see the mermaid blowing a conch horn. 

“What was that?” Emma asked her. 

“A warning,” the mermaid said calmly. “Let me go or you will all die.” 

“What did you do?” David asked. 

“If you don’t tell us, I’ll make you,” Regina threatened. Thunder boomed and there was a flash of lightning in the distance. Wind whipped around us; if this got much worse we’d either be thrown completely off course or straight into the shores of the island.

“She’s causing this,” I realized. “Let her go!” I yelled again. 

“Stop the storm and we’ll let you go,” David said, he held his sword under her chin. 

“Go ahead and kill her,” Regina said sounding bored. Mary Margret gasped shaking David out of it, he backed away realizing what he’d been about to do. 

The mermaid looked at me. “I know you,” she said. 

“I’ve never spoken to a mermaid before,” I denied. 

“We should just kill her she isn’t going to help us,” Regina told Mary Margret.

“We aren’t killing anyone!” Mary Margret shouted in response. The mermaid was still trying to talk to me but I could barely hear her quiet voice over the shouting. 

“…drowing,” she insisted. “You were…remember?”

“I can’t hear you,” I told her.

She shook her head and tried to tell me again but what I did hear didn’t make sense. “They took it from you.”

“Took what from me?” I asked. The rest of them were still arguing and I turned to glare at them. “Would you all just shut up?” I yelled. 

“I’m done arguing about this,” Regina said. She gestured at the mermaid and the mermaid was instantly turned to wood. Mary Margret and I both gasped. Thunder boomed even louder and the lightning seemed even closer. I whirled around and punched Regina in the jaw. 

“You have to turn her back!” Mary Margret screamed at her before Regina had a chance to retaliate. 

Emma grabbed my arm and pulled me away from them. “It’s not the mermaid, it’s us. We have to calm down.” Emma jumped overboard. 

“What the hell, Emma?” I yelled. There wasn’t a response. “Guys! Emma needs our help!” The other three were still at each other’s throat. I walked right in between Mary Margret and Regina. “Emma went overboard. We need to help her!”

“What?” Mary Margret asked surprised. She and David rushed to the railing of the ship. Emma was struggling to stay above water. A pulley, dangling off the ship, fell and hit her. Emma went limp and the waves knocked her into the ship. 

“Are you all done arguing?” I asked. “Because if you aren’t, she’s going to die.” 

“I’m going in after her,” David said.

“Wait!” Mary Margret and I said, but he jumped in anyways. 

“This excursion was a horrible idea, we’re all going to die, no one gets along and no one listens,” I mumbled walking up to the helm.

“I’ve got her!” David yelled. “Drop the net!” Mary Margret used the same net she’d captured the mermaid in to get David and Emma back onboard. Regina used magic to get them over the railing and dropped them on the deck. I realized the storm had subsided. 

“Wow, Emma was right, we were causing it,” I said.

“Perception, that’s what makes Neverland what it is, Darling,” Killian said. He turned the ship so we were heading straight for the island. 

“So much for the element of surprise.”

“Nothing is ever easy, haven’t you learned that by now.” 

“Unfortunately.”


	13. Chapter 13

We disembarked and regrouped on the beach. “What happened back there was our fault,” Emma said. “We all caused that because we weren’t working together. We have to learn to get along despite our differences. We are who we are and we have to accept that.” 

“You want us to be friends?” Regina asked skeptically.

“No, I don’t know if that’s possible, but I want us to be allies.” She turned and walked towards the woods. We all followed after her, Killian and I taking up the rear.

“Well I for one don’t have a problem with anyone here,” I said. “Anyone except for Regina, that is.” I walked past the rest of the group to join Emma at the front.

“Good, I was hoping someone who actually knew where we were going would lead the way,” Emma told me quietly. 

I pointed up towards the highest mountain peak in the middle of the island. “If we go up there we’ll be able to get a good view of the area. It’s a long shot but we might be able to see some signs of Pan’s camp.” 

“You don’t know where his camp is?” She asked.

“He was always moving it to avoid the pirate raids,” I explained. “We’d stay in one spot for a week, tops.” There was a large thorny bush in front of us, I stopped suddenly. “Can’t go this way.”

“I’ll clear it,” David said. 

“I wouldn’t do that, mate,” Killian said. 

“This is the quickest way up the mountain,” David argued.

“Those thorns carry a poison called dreamshade, the same poison I attacked Rumplestiltskin with.”

“You don’t want to mess with that stuff, even I know that,” I told him. 

“We’ll be fine,” David said. He began hacking away at the bush and Emma, Mary Margret and Regina followed him.

“The quickest way is often not the easiest,” I mumbled, repeating something I wasn’t sure where I had heard. Killian gave me a funny look before following the others. As I walked after them Mary Margret slowed down so she was walking next to me. 

“I’m sorry David is acting like this,” she told me.

“Not your fault,” I told her. 

“It’s nothing against you, David just isn’t used to working with the bad guys.” 

“And I’m one of the bad guys,” I finished.

“No, but, well, Hook is.” 

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Ok, whatever, either he’ll get over it or he won’t. We’ve all got the same goal here. Either he sucks it up and deals with us or he’s probably going to get someone killed.” 

I powerwalked to catch up with Killian, who had made it to the front of the group. “We’re almost there,” he told me.

“I know, I can see it.” I stepped around him and continued up to the top. I wanted to get the first look at the island. I got to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the forest below. Suddenly I was jolted into a memory.

OoOoO

“Let me go!” I screamed. My hair was wet and as I struggled salty strands hit me in the face.

“We’re under orders to take you to see Pan.”

“Who is that?” I yelled. I struggled to get away from the boys who were pulling me through the woods. They were stronger than they looked. “Where am I? How did I even get here?”

“Pan can answer your questions,” the older of the boys told me. The two boys stopped abruptly and I stumbled.

“So this is the girl the shadow brought back,” a boy said, walking out of the woods. “Now why would he do that? She isn’t even much of a girl.” 

“Do you think the shadow thinks she’s the one, Peter?” The older boy asked.

“Don’t be stupid, Felix. How can an adult have the heart of the truest believer?” 

“What are you talking about?” I asked. I yanked my arms away from the boys again and this time they let me go. But I was on my knees and I didn’t know where I would run to anyways. 

Peter stepped right in front of me and took a good look at me. “Welcome to Neverland.” He gestured to one of the other boys hidden in the shadows behind him. “Bring me the powder.” The boy handed him a pouch and Peter tapped a pinch of it out into his hand. “This will make you feel better,” he said before blowing it into my face. I closed my eyes and coughed.

I wasn’t sure if I was awake or dreaming but I could hear voices whispering to me. “Everything is perfect. The sun is shining and you’re safe.” They repeated the same things until another voice said; “You’re going to like it here.” 

When I opened my eyes it was daytime. The sun through the trees was so bright that I had to squint. “What happened?” I mumbled. 

“It’s a good thing we found you when we did,” a voice said. I looked up to see a boy standing over me. I knew his name was Felix but I didn’t know why I knew that. I remembered jumping from the clock tower, but that seemed so distant from this place. “Come on, Peter wants to give you a tour.” Felix helped me up. He smiled but the smile seemed plastic, something I was quite familiar with. “I think you’re going to like it here.”

OoOoO

I sat up quickly. The Charmings and Regina were asleep under makeshift tents. The only person still awake was Killian who was looking at me curiously. “Did I faint?” I asked him. He handed me the water bottle and I drank a few big gulps. “I guess I was just a little dehydrated,” I lied. 

“You remembered something,” he said. Never could get anything past Killian. 

“I remembered being dragged here by the Lost Boys. It looked like it looks now but then Peter made me inhale something and when I woke up everything was bright.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “Peter drugged me. That’s why I can’t remember everything.” 

“You should go back to sleep, we all need rest,” Killian told me. 

“I don’t know if I can sleep,” I mumbled. He lay down next to me and made my lay down so my head rested on his chest. I could hear his heart beat and I tried to match my breaths to his. Finally I let sleep pull me under. 

OoOoO

When I woke up there were loud voices and I was lying alone under my tent. “What’s going on?” I asked standing up. 

“Pan was here,” Emma said. “He gave me this, he said it would help find Henry.” She unrolled a blank piece of paper.

“I’m going to-“ I broke off and just walked into the woods. No one called after me. I weaved through the trees, I knew I wasn’t too far from camp; I could still here the murmur of voices. 

“Hello, Wendy,” someone said, startling me. I turned around and came face to face with Peter Pan. “It’s been a long time.” He hugged me but I shook him off. “What, aren’t you happy to see me?” 

“You drugged me!” I snapped. 

“For your own safety,” he argued. “When my shadow saved you, you’d lost it. If I had let you stay the way you were, you would have killed yourself. You tried right after you arrived.”

“The mermaid,” I mumbled. “She tried to tell me that she’d saved me from drowning. And you took them from me, my memories, you took them.” 

“I did,” he admitted. “But you’re alive. Thanks to me.” He turned and disappeared into the woods. I thought about running after him but decided against it, he knew this island better than I did. I walked back towards camp where the others were arguing, something our group appeared to do a lot. 

The paper Emma had been holding flew off into the woods. “There, we’ll follow it,” Regina said.

“I’m not going in there,” I said. The others reluctantly started after the paper. Killian came over and took my arms and slowly pulled me towards the woods. 

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I’m fine, I just – I don’t know what’s in there anymore.”

“Nothing is going to happen to you. You know this island as well as I do.

“I thought I did.” I didn’t want to go but I let him lead me into the woods. My hand went to the hilt of my sword and gripped it tightly.

OoOoO

“It’s slowing down,” Regina called from up ahead. 

“This is Pan’s camp,” I mumbled. I looked around, concerned by the lack of people. There had been over a dozen Lost Boys when I had been here. Pan always left at least one in charge of the camp while the rest of the group was out. “There’s got to be someone here,” I told them. “He wouldn’t leave the camp unguarded.” 

“Up there!” Mary Margret warned. The Lost Boys descended from the trees surrounding us. Some shot arrows, others had knifes and hatchets, they were a rag tag bunch. 

“I told you, Emma, it’s the way you find Henry that matters. You cheated,” Peter said, stepping from the shadows, his usual dramatic entrance. He looked at me. “Wendy, you should know better than anyone here what I’m capable off.”

Someone grabbed me from behind and dragged me backwards. I shook the boy off and drew my sword. The boy didn’t try to attack me so I instead turned to run after Peter. He lunged last minute and my foot caught under a tree root. My ankle rolled inwards and I heard a loud snap. The sharp pain brought me down to the ground. I dropped my sword and reached for my ankle. Killian pointed his sword at the boy and he backed away and disappeared back into the woods.

I dug to the bottom of my backpack looking for my first aid kit. I pulled out the ace bandage and started wrapping it in a figure eight pulling tight around the inside of my foot. “You should leave me here,” I told Killian. “It’s just a sprain but I’ll slow you all down. I talked to Peter in the woods, I don’t think he’ll hurt me.” I repacked my backpack and started to use it to prop my ankle up.

Killian grabbed me and pulled me up to my feet. He put my bag over his shoulder and wrapped my arm around him so I could hop on one foot without losing my balance. “If I have to, I’ll carry you. I’m not leaving you with him.” 

We didn’t make it far before we stopped to make camp. Everyone looked exhausted. “Are you going to be able to keep going?” Emma asked. “We could take you back to the ship.”

“It’s too far, we have to keep going,” I told her. “I’ll be fine.” I set it as my goal to walk on my own tomorrow no matter how much it hurt.

“Ok, goodnight,” she told me. I watched as Emma went to sit alone and look at the map. I stretched out and propped my ankle up on my bag.

“Night,” I told Killian. This time it only took a few seconds for me to fall asleep.


	14. Chapter 14

_I escaped the craziness that was the Lost Boys’ camp and walked into the forest. I didn’t have a purpose I just wanted to walk. I hoped that maybe if I walked far enough I could just walk off the face of the Earth. Slowly the trees around me thinned until there were almost none and the dirt under my feet turned to sand. “I wasn’t really serious about the end of the Earth,” I mumbled. I looked out over the vast ocean, there was no end in sight and the clouds rolled ominously on the horizon, it looked like it would rain soon. I spotted a ship anchored in the sea and wondered who it belonged to. Pan hadn’t mentioned a ship; in fact he hadn’t mentioned the beach either._

_"Well, hello there," a man said stepping out of the trees behind me. My head snapped in his direction. It was odd to see someone older than me after being around children for an entire week._

_"Who are you?" I asked._

_"Captain Hook," he said with a smirk._

_"Is that your ship?" I nodded towards the one I'd just spotted._

_"Yes, it is. This is also my beach."_

_I put my hands on my hips. "I didn't see a sign.”_

_He chuckled. "What's your name?"_

_"Wendy, Wendy Darling."_

_"I suppose you're another of Peter's new friends, though you don't fit the usual profile. I hadn't realized he was accepting girls into the group. I guess that makes you a lost girl then?" I shrugged. "Why are you so far away from your camp?"_

_"I want to go home...I thought that if I just- But I ran into the beach."_

_"You are on an island." He smirked again, on any other face I would probably find it annoying or condescending but instead I found it, and everything else about him, endearing._

_“How did I get here?” I asked._

_He shrugged. “Why would I know? Ask Pan.”_

_“Peter is the one who won’t tell me anything, I think he’s hiding things from me. I just got here but this whole week is already so fuzzy.” I looked out at the water again. I itched my wrist where my anchor tattoo was starting to heal after I wildly clawed at it. “Is there a way for me to get home?”_

_“Maybe,” he said. I hadn’t actually expected him to answer._

_“Will you help me?” I asked._

_“You don’t know me,” he said._

_“I don’t know Peter either, yet here I am.” I waved my arms around. “I’ll take anything at this point, I’m desperate and Peter is convinced he’s helping me by keeping me here.”_

_“Wendy!” One of the Lost Boys called._

_“They’re looking for me, please.” I said clinging to his arms._

_“Don’t tell them you’re trying to escape,” he told me. “I’ll come back for you.”_

_“Don’t leave me!” I called after him as he disappeared up the beach._

_“There you are, Wendy.”_

_“I was just taking a walk, Peter.”_

OoOoO

I was jolted awake again and I leaned over and shook Killian lightly, waking him. “What is it?” He asked.

“I-I remember meeting you for the first time, by the beach,” I told him.

“When you agreed to join my crew,” he said.

I shook my head. “No, right after I got to Neverland. I met you and I asked you to save me. Did that happen?”

He nodded cautiously. “Yes, that was the first time we met.”

“But it wasn’t the only time,” I realized. He didn’t say anything. “How many times, Killian?”

After a pause he sighed. “Four or five.”

“They erased my memory four or five times?” I asked.

“That’s just the times I know about.”

“Oh my god.” I pressed my palms against my forehead. “And the times I was told pirates were raiding camp?”

“I tried rescuing you, over and over. Eventually I realized I couldn’t, so I took Pan instead. I didn’t think it would work, but you came after him. Without their leader the Lost Boys really are lost, they didn’t even try to stop you.”

“You let me believe them, all this time. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“The second time I met you, I tried to tell you. You screamed and the Lost Boys came for you. You had to learn to trust me on your own, you had to remember by yourself, you wouldn’t have believed me otherwise.”

“I feel so stupid! You saved my life and I treated you like the villain. You didn’t have to save me, why did you?”

He ignored the question. “The third time you threatened me with a coconut.” He laughed quietly. “You were always stubborn. That time you almost stole the rowboat and went back to my ship on your own. Pan sprinkled you with pixie dust right in front of me.”

“Pixie dust makes you fly,” I said.

“It does a lot more than that, Darling.”

We sat in silence for a moment. I stared at the sand very intently trying not to think too much about what I’d just learned. “Did Emma get the map to work?” I asked remembering I’d seen her looking at it very intently.

He nodded. “I guess she accepted who she truly is.”

“Good, ok, I’m going try to walk on this. I don’t want to rely on anyone if we have to fight.”

“They should be waking up soon,” he told me. I nodded and pushed myself up. I slowly put weight down onto my right ankle and a sharp pain traveled up my leg. I tried again this time pushing a little harder until I was standing on it. I walked in circles around our camp perfecting my awful hop-skip-walk until I could move at a pretty fast pace. It hurt like hell but at least I wasn’t relying on anyone else.

When I sat back down I got a pill bottle out of my bag and popped a few Tylenols, I didn’t figure they’d help much but I needed something for the pain. “There’s always rum if those don’t work,” Killian said holding out his flask.

“Oh, by the end of today I’m sure I’ll be asking for that,” I said.

OoOoO

“Where are we going?” I groaned. We’d been walking for hours and we’d passed the same spot at least three times.

“It moved again,” Emma said.

“Pan is messing with us,” David said.

“I could just teleport us all there,” Regina suggested again.

“Peter will have wards against magic,” Killian told her.

“Last time I checked we needed to be alive to save Henry,” I said.

Emma sighed. “Then I guess we just keep walking.”

“I might have another idea,” Killian said. “There is someone else on the island that Peter trusts. She might be able to help us find him.”

“You mean Tinkerbell?” I asked. He nodded. “She’s a little unpredictable.”

“She’ll know where Pan is.”

“What makes you think she’ll tell us?” I asked.

“I have a feeling you can guilt her into it,” Killian told me.

I nodded. “Alright, let’s go.” I followed Killian through the trees. After we’d been walking for a little while, I accidentally kicked a large rock with my sprained ankle and drew a sharp breath.

“I was serious about carrying you.”

“And I was serious about walking on my own,” I told him.

“Regina might be able to heal your ankle,” Emma told me.

“I don’t want anyone’s help,” I said with finality. I walked past Killian in the direction I knew Tinkerbell’s tree house was. “There it is.”

“You can’t climb up that ladder,” Killian told me. I groaned but I knew he was right. He steered me to a tree stump and sat me down. I looked up as the rest of the group, sans Regina, climbed into the tree house.

“Anything up there?” I called. There was no response from the tree house but behind me I heard a thump. I turned around searching for Regina in the trees. “Regina?” I called. I turned back to the tree house. “Guys, I think something happened to Regina!” Emma and her parents descended followed by Killian. “I heard something over there, in the direction we came from.”

The others went in that direction and I hopped after them. “This is Regina’s,” David said holding up a handkerchief.

“You think it was Tink?” I asked Killian.

He nodded. “Who else?”

“I think I can track her, she wasn’t very careful,” Mary Margret said.

We followed her lead, but I hung in the back with Killian. “You said Peter used pixie dust to take my memories, he must have gotten it from Tink right?”

Killian nodded. “He did, he took it from her. She didn’t have much choice in the matter.”

OoOoO

We stopped to rest and I noticed David and Killian walk out of earshot of the others. I followed behind them and saw David show Killian where he’d been shot with an arrow. Black veins spread from the wound and it looked terrible. “Those arrows were dipped in dreamshade, weren’t they?” I asked stepping forwards.

Killian nodded. “You’ve only got a few days left, weeks at most, mate.”

“Tinkerbell’s pixie dust can heal me,” David said.

“If she still has any left,” I mumbled. “You should tell Emma and Mary Margret.”

“They’re worried enough as it is and I don’t want to distract them from finding Henry,” he told me.

“They’d want to know,” I tried again.

“I can’t tell them, Wendy.”

I sighed but nodded. “Alright, well let’s get going. The sooner we find Tink, the better.”

OoOoO

“The trail ends here,” Mary Margret said. “She’s got to be in that cave.”

Before our group could barge in, Regina came out. “Tinkerbell is human,” she told us. “She can’t hurt you.” Tink followed behind Regina looking angry. Peter had always kept Tink at arms length, despite trusting her with anything he might need. I didn’t remember her much, but for once it wasn’t because of the pixie dust.

Tinkerbell scanned each of us before settling on me. Her expression changed from anger to confusion. “Wendy, I thought you got out. Why are you here?”

“I had to come back, for Henry.”

“You’re here for the boy too?”

“We can help you if you can help up,” Mary Margret offered.

“How? Peter took my pixie dust. I have nothing. I am nothing.”

“You owe Wendy,” Killian told her.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Emma asked her.

“Sudden death,” I mumbled.

“Tortuous, horrible death,” Tink corrected. She glanced at me again and sighed. “But the pirate is right, I owe you, Wendy.”

“We need your help.”

“Then I guess you’ll have it.”

OoOoO

We continued to follow the map, the Charmings lead the pack and Tink, Killian and I trailed behind with Regina somewhere in the middle. Tinkerbell hadn’t said a thing since we left her lair. “Killian, can you give us a minute?” I asked. He nodded and went ahead to join the others.

“Pan was using your pixie dust to erase my memory, did you know that?” I asked.

“Not at first, he asked for some in exchange for protection on his island. It wasn’t just you he used it on; pixie dust has many different uses. He came back asking for more and when I found out what he’d been doing with it, I refused, he took it anyway,” she told me. “I’m sorry for what he did to you.”

“Do you know why he kept me here?” I asked. “It seems like it would have been easier to let me go.”

“Maybe he thought you had the heart of the truest believer,” she said with a shrug. “The shadow brought you here for a reason, and I don’t think it was out of the goodness of his heart.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter anymore, Henry is in danger and we have to save him.”


	15. Chapter 15

_“Wendy, I need you to listen to me,” Bae said. He stopped us in the middle of the woods and sat me down on a fallen tree._

_“Why are you acting so strange?” I asked as he sat down next to me._

_“I know that this is going to sound crazy but I need you to listen to me,” he said. “Look around, tell me what you see.”_

_I did what he said, though I didn’t know where he was going with this. “I see trees, and flowers and there’s a bird over there. Also, you’re sitting right here, and so am I.”_

_“It’s not real Wendy, Peter is messing with your head. I don’t know why, I wish I did. He’s tricked you into believing that he and the Lost Boys are good.”_

_“But they aren’t,” I said._

_He nodded. “You’re understanding.”_

_“Not really,” I admitted. “Why do you think Peter is messing with my head?”_

_“I saw him! He was making you inhale something.”_

_“When was this?” I asked skeptical._

_“A few days ago, right after you went to see Hook again. I’ve been following you, I know you keep going to see him.”_

_“The pirate that’s terrorizing us?” I asked. “I’ve never met him.”_

_“Yes, you have. You were with him for three full days once. I thought you’d escaped but then Felix dragged you back. Felix always drags you back and you always scream. Then the screaming stops. Only the last time I was there and I saw Peter blow some powder in your face. You passed out and when you woke up you were acting like your normal happy self.”_

_“I’m happy, so sue me.”_

_“You aren’t happy! It’s all a lie. No one can be happy here.”_

_“What if I’d rather live a lie than go back to reality?” I asked._

_He stared at me for a second before shaking his head. “Hook was right, you won’t believe it if someone tells you. You’ve got to think for yourself. Don’t worry, Wendy, I’ll get you out of here and you’ll know I was telling the truth.” He stood up._

_“Are you going somewhere?” I asked._

_He nodded. “I’m coming back for you, I promise.”_

OoOoO

The whole group sat around a campfire as Emma ran through the plan. Tinkerbelle had agreed to take up to Peter and the Lost Boys, though we were responsible for fighting our way to Henry once we got inside.

“How soon can we put this plan into effect?” David asked.

“I’m ready to go!” Tink chirped. “As soon as you tell me how we plan on getting off this island.” Everyone looked around, no one saying a thing. “You do have an exit plan don’t you?”

“This was a spur of the moment trip,” Regina said. “We’ll figure something out.”

“You’ll figure something out? You don’t get it! No one gets off this island without Pan’s permission. Without a way out, all of this is for nothing.”

“We have to save Henry!” David protested.

“When you have an escape plan, find me. You know where I live,” Tinkerbelle said before walking off into the woods.

“Should I go after her?” David asked.

“Don’t bother,” Emma said. “She’s right. Hook, how did you and Wendy get off the island?”

Killian looked up. “I made a deal with Pan, one he won’t be willing to repeat.”

“So we’re doomed then?” Regina asked.

“Bae escaped without Pan’s help,” I said. “I mean, Neal.”

“How?” Emma asked.

I shrugged then looked at Killian. He shook his head. “I don’t know, but maybe we can find out.”

OoOoO

We reached Bae’s hideout and Killian gestured to a rope. “Can I get a hand with this?” Before I could take a step, David had volunteered. They pulled the door open and I waved Emma, Mary Margret, and Regina ahead of me.

“David, you look awful,” I told him.

“I feel worse.”

“You need to tell your family, mate,” Killian said.

“What’s the use? There is nothing any of us can do to save me.”

“There’s always hope!” I protested.

“Unless there’s something you aren’t telling me, I’m going to die here.”

“I told you the truth, you won’t make it off this island,” Killian said.

“Then this stays between us,” David said. “And the only person we’re worried about saving is Henry.” He walked past us and into the cave.

“Hook!” Emma called. We both followed David inside. “What is this place?” Killian went to the wall and lit the torches. Drawings covered the cave’s walls. We spread out and studied the drawings, however most of them just looked like doodles not clues.

“There’s nothing here,” Regina said. Emma turned from where she was holding a candle to the wall and sighed.

“Nothing here but some coconut bowls,” Mary Margret said.

David held one up. “Not sure how well this one would work, it’s got a lot of holes.”

Emma reached for it and fit it over the coconut candle she was holding. “Snuff out the torch.” Killian put a coconut over it, killing the flame. “Look up,” Emma told us.

“Stars,” Mary Margret realized.

“It’s a map,” Killian said.

“A map to get us home,” Emma said with a smile.

I groaned. “I hate puzzles.” I dropped down against the wall, knowing I would be no help reading the stars. It wasn’t as simple as navigating using the stars that I could do. This was a complex map Bae had made, for only his eyes to see.

“For a short while Bae was aboard my ship,” Killian told the others. “I taught him how to navigate by the stars. However, a good captain knows how to code his map to keep unwanted hands off it. I cannot read this.”

Regina shook her head. “The only person who can use this map is dead.”

Emma walked out of the cave and her parents followed her. Killian sat down next to me. “Looks like we’re stuck here once again, Darling.”

I lay my head on his shoulder. “I just want to go home.”

“Where is home?”

“Anywhere but here.”

OoOoO

Eventually Emma returned and we all searched the cave again, but it seemed pointless. “Wendy, did you see this?” Emma asked, pointing at markings behind Bae’s makeshift mattress.

“Yeah, he marked the days until he got off the island,” I said. “So?”

“He marked them until he lost hope.”

“You got that from some scratches on the wall?” Regina asked skeptically.

“It’s the same thing I did in every foster home,” Emma told her.

“Neverland is a pretty hopeless place, when you’re not being drugged up on pixie dust that is. I remembered something earlier, Bae tried to tell me what was really going on, but I didn’t believe him. I don’t think I ever saw him again after that.”

“Maybe that was when he lost hope, because he couldn’t save you,” Marry Margret suggested.

“Memory lane is nice and all, but what does this have to do with finding a way home?” Regina interrupted.

“I think the same thing is happening to Henry,” Emma said.

“We’re going to rescue him!” David said.

“Yeah, but Henry doesn’t know that.”

“We need to send him a sign, so he knows we’re coming for him,” Mary Margret said.

“With Lost Boys running around trying to kill us?” Regina asked.

“It’s time we used that to our advantage, come with me,” Emma motioned for us to head outside. I followed her, staying near the front.

“I know what it’s like, to lose hope. Before Neverland, well you know all about that…I don’t think I had a chance to feel hopeless here,” I said. “I just mean I understand that feeling. I wish I’d believe Bae when he came to me, but I couldn’t.”

“Of course you couldn’t, you were just as much a prisoner here as he was.” She put her arm around me and gave me a squeeze. “You’ve got us now, we’ll give you plenty of hope.”

“That’s the thing you Charmings are best at.” She smiled. “So what’s the plan?”

“We’re going to trap some Lost Boys.”

OoOoO

“Do you really think the Lost Boys are going to betray Pan?” Killian asked. Mary Margret, Emma, and I braided vines together into ropes.

“We don’t need your input, thank you,” Mary Margret said.

“What do you think, Wendy?” Emma asked. “You know them the best.”

“Without Peter, they’re truly lost. It was how I escape from him. Maybe if we separate them from Peter, I can talk to them and make them see the light as I did.”

“It’s worth a shot.” She reached for another vine. “We need more.”

“I’ll go,” David said. “You’re coming with me, pirate.”

I suppressed a groan as Killian followed him. “I’ll just be here resting my ankle.”

OoOoO

Killian and David had been gone for ages. I was beginning to get worried that something had happened to David, his condition was progressing rapidly. I was honestly surprised the others hadn’t caught on that something was wrong.

No doubt David would have Killian craft some valiant story about how he died keeping Lost Boys away from his family. But I still believed Emma and Mary Margret deserved to know the truth. “Emma, there’s something I should probably tell you.”

Before I could get anything else out, David and Killian appeared. “We’re splitting up,” David said.

“What?” The rest of us said at once.

“There is a chance that my brother’s enchanted sexton is on top of Dead Man’s Peak, it could help us decode Baelfire’s star map,” Killian explained.

“And you’re just now telling us about this?” Emma asked.

“The climb up the mountain is dangerous, and I couldn’t be certain it was there.” He reached into is pocket and withdrew a military insignia. “Then I found this, it belonged to my brother. If this survived all these years maybe the sexton did to.”

“Then let’s go together,” Mary Margret said.

“You were right about Henry,” Killian said. “You need to get him that message.”

“As much as I hate to agree with him, I do,” David said.

“I’m coming with you,” I said.

“You can’t climb a mountain with a sprained ankle, Darling.”

“Watch me.”

David and Killian shared a look, but they both shrugged. “Alright, then. Let’s get going.”

Killian and I walked away while David said goodbye to his family. “He won’t make it back, will he?” I asked.

“Not with that poison in his system.”

“Why did you never tell me you had a brother?” I asked. “All of that “I don’t know anything about you” bullshit, but you never thought to tell me you had a brother?”

“You never asked,” he teased. I gave him a little shove. “I figured that, between the two of us, there were already enough sob stories. I didn’t need to add another one.”

“What was he like?”

“Brave, noble, smart, bloody arrogant actually, but all those good things too.”

“So what you’re saying is, the Jones brothers were a lot alike?”

“Oh did I mention he was a handsome devil?” He slung his arm around my shoulder.

“You’re unbelievable.” I laughed.

David joined us. “Alright, let’s get going.” We nodded and started off towards Dead Man’s Peak.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“No, Wendy, I am not. But I will hold up long enough to help you find the sextant.”

“I meant with the goodbyes, I’m sure that was hard,” I clarified.

“Emma and Marry Margret know I love them. They’ll know that I died trying to save them and Henry.”

“Who’s going to tell them that, your ghost?” Killian asked.

“No, you are. You’re going to tell them I fought to the death, not about the poison.”

“Not the truth, you mean.”

“I won’t have their last memories of me tarnished.”

“Why should we help you?” Killian asked.

“If you hadn’t stolen those beans, Greg and Tamara wouldn’t have been able to take Henry, and we wouldn’t be on this island at all.”

“He’s got a point,” I mumbled.

“At least you got to say goodbye, some of us aren’t so lucky,” Killian said.

“You lost someone, didn’t you?” Killian didn’t answer. “He was your brother, right? I had a brother, a twin actually. Died before I met him. You would have liked him he was a liar and a thief.”

“You would have liked mine, he could be a stubborn ass.”

“If either of you want another brother, I’ve got two. No one would miss Michael,” I mumbled. Neither of them commented.

We reached the cliff face. Killian hadn’t been over exaggerating about the climb. I thought the climb to the giant’s castle had been hard, but this black diamond made the beanstalk look like a green circle.

“I’ll climb ahead and throw a rope down for the two of you, wait here,” Killian said. He began his trek up the mountain and I watch impatiently.

“How do you do it?” David asked.

“What?”

“Stay with someone you can’t even trust.”

“I do trust him,” I told him.

“He’s a liar, a thief, probably a cheater. He’s a pirate, the list goes on.”

“You know, David, I liked you. I honestly thought we’d be able to be friends.”

“That was before you and your pirate tried to kill everyone in Storybrooke.”

“We tried to help you!” I retaliated. “Killian made a mistake, but he brought the beans back. Just because we’re pirates doesn’t mean we’re bad people. Everyone likes Will Turner and Captain Jack Sparrow!”

He shook his head. “You can’t compare yourself to characters in a fictional movie.”

“Until a few months ago, I thought you and everyone in Storybrooke were nothing more than fictional characters!” I argued. “I can’t wait any more, I don’t need a stupid rope just because my ankle hurts.” I took a deep breath and headed up the mountain.


	16. Chapter 16

About a third of the way up the mountain I regretted my decision, but by then it was too late. I winced every time I had to put weight on my sprained ankle, but carried on. I pushed myself, putting more weight ankle than I probably should have. The quicker I got up the mountain, the quicker I could stop the pain. I was nearing the top when I heard voices. I recognized Peter’s voice immediately. Gritting my teeth, I clung to the mountain to listen in. “I’ll grant you passage off the island, for you and your dear Wendy Darling.”

“I’m not interested.”

“Of course you are, that’s what I’ve always liked about you. You’re good at surviving. You stuck you neck out for Wendy before, to take her off this island. You expect me to believe you’re willing to let her stay here, maybe die here, all because you’re trying to be the hero? In case you haven’t noticed, you aren’t the hero.”

“What do you want?” Killian asked.

“I want you to do my dirty work. But first, I’ll need a sign you’ve agreed. I’ll know you’ve accepted my deal when I see Prince Charming’s dead body on the peak. I want you to kill him, before the poison does.” Unable to hold on any longer, I pushed myself up onto the cliff. Peter noticed me and smiled. “Or Wendy could do it, she’s got a fire I didn’t see before. Makes me regret letting her go so easily.”

“Maybe you just didn’t see it because you had me so high on pixie dust I could barely remember my own name.”

Peter shrugged. “I know how good you are with a sword. You do want to go home, don’t you?”

David climbed up over the cliff; I hadn’t even realized he was behind me. “Bloody hell, I told you both to wait,” Killian said. I turned to where Pan had been a moment before, but he was gone.

“We’re here, we’re fine, let’s move on,” I said.

“Were the two of you talking to someone?” David asked.

“No, mate, just us.” Killian headed up the path. “Not much farther now.” I followed closely behind him. When we reached the other side of the cliff, Killian held out a hand to stop me. “Watch out for the dreamshade bushes here,” he told me. I leaned around them as I stepped into the opening. “In there,” Killian motioned to David. “Since you’re already dying from the stuff, I’m sure you won’t mind if we step back.”

David drew his sword, but instead of pointing it at the bushes, he pointed it at us. I reached for my sword. “Be smart, there’s two of us, and only one of you,” I said.

“I heard about your deal with Pan,” David said. He backed us into the bush. “Take me to the sexton. Maybe I won’t be able to make it back to my family, but I have to try.”

“My brother didn’t lose his satchel up here. There is no sextant,” Killian confessed.

“Then what are we doing here?” David asked. Pushing the sword closer to us. I planted myself firmly, knowing my clothes were far to thin to survive a run in with the thorns, and deciding I’d rather be run through by David’s sword than suffer his fate.

“I knew if I told you the truth you’d never agree.”

“The truth?” He pressed.

“I brought you here to save your life!”

“Liar!” David said, he lunged at Killian but I shoved him to the ground. 

Killian bent down to check on him. “Well, you knocked him out, congratulations.” 

“All I did was push him. It’s the poison. Whatever your miracle cure is, you need to give it to him quickly.” Killian stood up and started to draw his sword. I grabbed his arm. “Wait.”

“What?”

I hugged him. “I knew you wouldn’t take Peter’s deal. I knew that, really.”

Killian laughed. “Then why are you trying to hard to convince me?”

“Because, I considered taking it,” I admitted with a shutter.

He rubbed my arms. “You wouldn’t have, I know you, Darling.” I let him go and he drew his sword. He began hacking through the dreamshade bushes. “Stay back, just incase the thorns go flying.”

I sat down next to David, and tried to wake him up. When he did come too he jerked away from me. “David, it’s okay, we’re going to save you. Killian’s getting what you need right now.”

“That’s really why he brought me up here, to save me.”

“He knew you wouldn’t leave your family without a good reason. And splitting up made sure they weren’t distracted from saving Henry. It’s a win-win.”

We watched Killian push through the bushes and fill his canteen up with water from the waterfall on the other side. He brought it back to David. “This water will cure you from the dreamshade poison.” David reached for it, but Killian pulled away. “Because the magic in this water comes from the island, once you drink it you can never leave.”

David took it. “That’s a small price to pay to help Henry get home.” He took a large gulp from the canteen. Immediately the black veins on his hands and face receded. Killian pulled David to his feet.

“I’m sorry,” David said.

“For what?” Killian asked.

“That I treated you both like villains, you aren’t. I’m sorry I thought you were.” 

I hugged him. He was caught of guard, but after a moment hugged me back. “It’s okay, I’m just glad you’re alright.”

OoOoO

We finally reached the camp and were greeted by bows and arrows and swords. “Stand down, it’s us!” David said. He went immediately to Mary Margret and kissed her. I leaned into Killian and he squeezed my shoulder.

“Did you get a message to Henry?” I asked Emma.

“Yeah, he knows we’re coming for him. Pan won’t be able to get inside his head now.”

We glanced at David and Mary Margret who were still kissing. “It’s times like these, when I wish I had another sleeping curse,” Regina muttered.

David finally let go of his wife and looked at the rest of us. “Killian saved my life.”

“Oh, now you want to tell them!” I grumbled.

“On our trek we were ambushed by Lost Boys. He risked his life to save me from a poison arrow, without him I wouldn’t be alive right now. Give me your flask.” Killian pulled it out and handed it to David. David took a swig. “I thought he deserved some credit.”

He passed the flask for Mary Margret who smiled. “To Hook!” Emma took a drink and Regina passed on hers and the flask was given to me. The rest of our group walked away. I took a large gulp, more to ease the throbbing pain in my ankle than to celebrate Killian.

“You really do need to rest your ankle if you ever want it to heal.” 

I handed him the flask. “Just because you’re the big hero now, doesn’t mean you get to have all the fun.”

OoOoO

Mary Margret noticed my limp was worse after my climb and ordered me to sit down by the fire until it was time for us all to move on. She was about to send David to look for a suitable crutch, when Regina interrupted. “Just let me heal your ankle. You’re becoming a burden.”

I shot her a look, but nodded. “Fine, you’re right.” I would have continued right along being a burden, but the pain in my ankle was almost the only thing I could think about. I wasn’t sure I could walk anymore, let alone survive a fight with the Lost Boys. She waved her hand over my ankle, a red glow shot up my leg, and then the pain stopped.

“I could have done that two days ago if you hadn’t been so stubborn.” She shook her head. “Now, if you don’t mind I have other things to do.”

“Other things like teach my daughter how to use magic,” Mary Margret mumbled.

“She’ll be fine. Don’t you trust her?” David asked.

“Emma? Yes. Regina? Not so much.”

Killian emerged from the woods and crouched down next to us. “Pan paid me a visit.”

“What does he want now?” I asked.

“He wanted to tell me that Baelfire is alive.”

I grabbed his arm. “Bae’s dead, Emma saw him get shot.”

“I’m only repeating what Pan said. Who knows what he has to gain from telling us this.”

“We should tell Emma,” Mary Margret said standing up.

Killian held out a hand to stop her. “Whatever the reason, that is what Pan wants. Emma has already lost him once, if this turns out to be another one of his games…”

“We can’t get her hopes up over nothing,” David said.

“I’ve never lied to her before,” Mary Margret said.

I shot Killian a pointed look. “You really thought telling Emma’s mother was a good idea?”

“You aren’t lying, you’re just keeping a secret,” Killian reasoned.

“Secrets have a way of hurting those we love.”

“But they can also protect them,” David countered.

Mary Margret sighed. “Okay.” 

“Grab your things, the quicker we find Bae the better,” Killian told us. We walked away from the Charmings, and Killian took a look at my ankle. “Well you healed up quickly.”

“Regina helped.”

“I thought you weren’t interested in using magic?”

“Okay, I wasn’t. But I’m not entirely sure that was just a sprain; I felt like someone was stabbing me in the leg over and over again. Plus I was slowing you all down. So I let her heal it.”

I slung my backpack over my shoulder. “How that bag has survived months in Neverland, the Enchanted Forrest, and your world, I will never understand.”

“The magic of technology, though it is looking pretty grubby. Get me a new one for my birthday, that’s coming up pretty soon.” We returned to Mary Margret and David. 

Emma noticed us all packing up and came over to us. “Going somewhere?”

“Getting water,” David said, as Killian answered “Firewood,” at the same time. 

“What’s really going on?”

David and Killian both looked at me, but before I could open my mouth, Mary Margret beat me to it. “Neal’s alive.”

Emma stared at us for a second, processing what her mother had just said. “Neal’s alive?”

“Maybe,” Mary Margret amended.

“And who told you this?” Regina asked. “Pan? Because we all know how trustworthy he is!”

Snow pointed at broken branches near the edge of camp. “Look, there are signs of a struggle here. It goes on too, someone was clearly dragged away. If Neal came here looking for us-“

“Or Pan set this all up to distract us from saving Henry!” Regina countered. “You know what? I’ve had enough waiting around.” She turned and began to walk away from us.

“Where are you going?” Emma called after her.

“To save our son!”

“What if she’s right?” Emma asked her mother.

“I don’t think she is,” Mary Margret told her. “You owe it to yourself, and to Henry, to find out if Neal is still alive.”

Emma nodded. “Alright, let’s go.”

They walked on ahead and I hung back with Killian. “This is exactly what Pan wants us to do.”

“Are you willing to argue with Emma over this?” He asked.

“Of course not, I want to find Bae too.”

OoOoO

The trail ended at a cave. “What kind of prison is left unguarded?” David asked.

“The kind that has it’s own defenses,” Killian said gravely.

“You’ve been here?” Mary Margret asked.

“Aye, I lost half my crew inside.” He glanced at me. “Trying to rescue her.”

“Another memory I lost?” I guessed.

“Pan knocked you out, it’s not surprising you don’t remember this place, Darling. He wanted to see how far I’d be willing to go to rescue you. We tried everything, most resulted in death.”

“How do you rescue someone from inside?” Emma asked.

“By revealing a secret.”

“A secret?” Mary Margret repeated. “Well that doesn’t seem so bad.”

“This isn’t a distraction at all,” I realized. “Pan wants us to tell our secrets in the hopes that we’ll turn on each other.” I looked at the others. “That won’t happen, not with us.”

“Wendy’s right. The truth can’t hurt us,” Mary Margret said.

I led the way into the cave. Inside there was a giant pit, no telling how deep, in the middle a single pillar held up a bamboo cage. I had a sudden jolt of déjà vu. “Bae?” I called out. 

There was movement within the cage and suddenly a face appeared through the opening. “Wendy?” The rest of the ground joined me in the cavern. Bae caught sight of Emma. “Emma!” 

“It’s really him,” Emma said in awe. “How do we get to him?”

“We tell our secrets, love,” Killian said. 

“And what, we sprout wings?” Emma asked skeptically.

“I don’t know the particulars, just what I’ve been told,” Killian said.

“How do we know it’ll work?” David asked. 

“There’s only one way to find out,” I said. I took a deep breath, and opened my mouth.


	17. Chapter 17

I closed my mouth and frowned. “I’m not sure I have a secret.” I scrunched up my nose and then looked at Emma. “Does it count if you knew it before I did?”

Emma tilted her head in confusion. Then nodded. “Well it was a secret from yourself.”

I nodded, and then turned to Killian. “Ok, so, the first time I met you, the real first time, I found you very endearing. I don’t believe in love at first sight, but I don’t think my heart forgot all those times you tried to save my life, even if my head did. I’ve been in love with you since before I can remember, literally. Emma was the only person who could see it because, well, she was lying to herself about her own love.” 

We all looked at the opening but nothing happened. “Maybe that doesn’t count?”

“I think I know why.” I sighed. “I know I’m not a hero, I didn’t think I was a villain either. But, Peter offered me a deal. If I killed David while we were on Dead Man’s Peak, he’d let Killian and me leave Neverland. Obviously, that didn’t happen. But, for a moment, I thought I might do it. Since coming back to Neverland, I’ve learned so much more about myself, not just through my memories but also through who I’ve become. I don’t think I like that person, she’s a hell of a lot closer to a villain than I thought I was.” The bridge moved and I let out a sigh of relief.

David stepped towards me and I stepped backwards. He reached out and pulled me into his arms. “You are not a villain, we all make mistakes. Sometimes we’re selfish, it doesn’t make us evil,” he told me.

“I thought about killing you,” I whispered.

“But you saved my life instead, at the risk of pissing off Pan. That takes courage.” He let me go.

“You once told me no one cares about villains,” Killian said. “If that’s true, you’re the farthest things from a villain.”

I smiled. “Your turn.”

He nodded. “After Milah, I didn’t think I could ever love again. But then I met you.” Nothing happened, this time no one said anything. Killian just stared at me, and my stomach did somersaults waiting for whatever bomb he was about to drop on me. “When I met you on the beach, for the first time, you reminded me of her. I saw Milah in your snide remarks and your smirk. Then you asked for my help. I saved you because you reminded me of her. I didn’t love you at first, how could I? I didn’t know you. But when I realized how you felt about me; I knew that I’d been wrong. You weren’t Milah and I loved you for it.”

I hardly noticed the bridge move. Mary Margret launched into her secret, but I couldn’t listen. The one thing that I’d spent so much time trying to out run had caught up with me. I would always be Milah’s replacement. Of course I would be, how do you top someone’s first love?

David told his family that he was forever trapped in Neverland, thanks to the dreamshade poison, and the last piece of the bridge move into place. Emma walked the middle of the cavern where Bae waited. First she attempted to hack away at the box, but then she gave up and sat down to presumably tell her secret. After a few moments the cage fell away and Bae crawled out. The first thing he did was hug Emma, after an eternity they walked back to us. I threw my arms around Bae and hugged him. “I need air,” he joked, before squeezing me back twice as hard.

“We should get going,” David said. “We need to get back to Henry.”

Bae let go of me and I made my way towards the entrance to the cave. As I reached the other side, I tripped. Hands clasped around my arms, and pulled me to my feet. I jerked away from Killian, instinctively. The others stepped out of the cave, glanced at us, then continued back to camp.

“Wendy.” Killian grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to turn around. “I didn’t want to say that, I knew it would hurt you.” 

I reached for the compass around my neck and started to pull it off. Killian grabbed my hand, until I let the necklace fall back to my chest. “I don’t want it. I don’t want to be her.”

He held my shoulders; I had no choice but to look him in the eyes. “I promise you, that you are not. Even if I did see you as a replacement for Milah at first, I fell in love with you for you.”

“How am I supposed to believe that?”

“If I wanted Milah, I wouldn’t love you. I am telling the truth.”

“When did you realize I loved you?” I asked.

“When you stayed behind in the time bubble with me. You had spent months trying to find a way home, and it was being offered to you. Not only a way home, but a chance to start fresh. But you chose to stay with me, instead of getting what you wanted.”

“I-I just wanted to remember my family.”

“Why? You told me yourself you never got along with them. You said they didn’t even miss you.”

I shook my head. “That was so long ago, you’ve loved me since then?”

“That’s why I gave you Milah’s compass. It was the last thing I had that belonged to her; I didn’t need to keep holding onto it anymore. Plus, I didn’t want to lose you.” He smiled.

I remembered how he’d tried to kiss me at the farmer’s house, just before giving me the compass. It was the first time he’d ever opened up about Milah, since my first day on the Jolly Roger. Of course I assumed he’d wanted to kiss me because he was missing her. I put my hands on his face and kissed him. He laughed. “I love you!”

“I know. I love you, too.”

OoOoO

We caught up with the rest of our group at camp. Bae was shaking his head. “I do know how to navigate the stars, but I can’t fly.”

“I’m guessing that’s where the shadow comes in,” David said.

“You had the shadow take you off the island?” I asked. Bae nodded. “Smart.”

“You expect us to sneak up on Pan and steal his shadow?” Emma asked.

“Peter’s shadow is never with him,” I explained. “It’s typically off doing Peter’s dirty work. For example capturing children and bringing them to Neverland.”

“So what does that mean?” David asked.

“It means we can capture the shadow without being anywhere near Pan,” Killian told him. “Provided we know where to look.”

“I know where to look,” Bae said.

“Alright, then you and me are on shadow duty,” Emma said standing up.

“We’ll go with you,” I offered.

“Mary Margret and I will give Tink a heads up, make sure she can make good on her promise to get us into Pan’s camp,” David said.

“We meet at Tink’s, then we get Henry, and get the hell off this island,” Emma said. I watched David’s expression darken, as he realized how soon he would be saying goodbye to his family.

As I walked past him I grabbed his arm. “We’ll find away to get you home, David.”

He turned towards me and my hand fell back to my side. “It’s too late for me, Wendy.”

“You of all people should know, it’s never too late.” He tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Coming, Darling?” Killian called. I nodded in his direction then turned back to David to give him one last reassuring look, but he’d already head off in the other direction.

Bae was talking to Killian, while Killian packed up our things. I joined them, but instead of helping Killian, I just stared at Bae. He rubbed at his cheek, “Do I have something on my face?”

I laughed. “No, I’m just so happy you’re alive.”

He grinned. “Me too.”

“How’d it happen? I heard you got shot and fell through a portal?”

“Yeah, I landed in the Enchanted Forrest, I met some people that fixed me up and helped me get here,” He told me. “But, you! I still don’t understand how you never aged.”

“Well this is how I’ve explained it to myself, when you leave Neverland, you go to the time and place that you want to go. So basically Neverland is time travel.” I shrugged. “Less interesting, but equally confusing, I’ve started to get my memories back.”

Bae looked at Killian, who nodded. “She remembers all the times she tried to escape.”

“Or at least I remember enough, some things are still foggy,” I said. “Apparently Peter was drugging me with pixie dust, but I guess you already knew that.”

“I’m glad you’re okay now, it’s so good to see you again.” He pulled me into a huge hug and I laughed.

“I want to be friends now, you know, since we’re the same age,” I said, letting go of him.

“Hey, I thought we were already friends.”

“You were like ten years younger than me, I was more like your baby sitter.” I paused. “I literally was your baby sitter.”

“You guys all packed up?” Emma asked, walking over.

“Yes, no thanks to this one,” Killian asked motioning to me.

“I have a friend who’s not dead, so pardon me for being a little excited about that,” I said. Killian shook his head, but he looked amused.

“Where to?” Emma asked Bae.

“My old hideout, there’s something I need to grab there,” he told her. She nodded and slung her bag over her shoulder. I picked up my backpack, which Killian had loaded up, and the four of us headed to Bae’s cave.

OoOoO

Bae was going through crates getting increasingly more anxious as he went. “What are you looking for, mate?” Killian asked.

“It’s a coconut, cut in half. One side has a candle, and the other side has holes-“

“Your star map, yeah, I hid it,” Emma said. “I’ll go get it.” She headed out.

“So, what’d you do after you got off the island. What’d you think of my world?” I asked, taking a seat on one of the crates.

“At first it was weird, but I grew up there. I’d say I turned out alright,” he said.

“How’d you meet Emma?” I asked. “She’s been stingy on the details. Like super stingy.”

“Uh, well, we stole a car.”

“That is a totally acceptable way to start a relationship,” I said. “One time I threatened Killian with his own sword, a moment I vaguely recall, but hey look at us now.”

“I also got her sent to jail, so it didn’t really end well.”

“Oooh, okay. That explains a lot.”

Emma walked back in. “Here’s your star map.” 

He took it. “It’s not a star map, it’s the way we’re going to catch the shadow.”

“A coconut?” I asked. “Are you sure?”

“Really, Wendy? You’re cool with time travel, portals to other worlds, and fairytale characters, but a magic coconut is too much of a stretch?”

“Fair enough.”

“Where’s our next stop?” Killian asked.

“The Dark Hollow,” Bae said.

“Of course, it couldn’t be called something nice like Rainbow Valley, why am I surprised,” Emma mumbled.

“I’ve been there,” I realized. 

Bae nodded. “I was with Felix when he found you. That’s how I found out about the shadows living there.”

I turned to Emma and Killian. “Remember when I was scared of going in the woods? Yeah, I’ve remembered why.”

“What exactly is the Dark Hollow?” Emma asked us.

“Exactly what it sounds like, the darkest part of the island,” Killian explained “Any light that goes in is snuffed out by the shadows that inhabit it.”

“Have you ever been on one of those cave tours? There’s always a point when they turn of the lights and tell you this is what true darkness is like. Imagine that, but darker, dark enough you can practically feel it. It’s like a black hole, there’s no escaping.”

“Sounds lovely,” Emma said shivering. “Let’s get going.”

Bae led the way to the Dark Hollow and I walked along beside him, since Emma was lagging behind. “Your memories are getting a lot clearer, huh?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I think so. Like I said, a few are still foggy. I think maybe some required more magic to burry, so the pixie dust is taking longer to wear off those.”

“Like the time you threatened Hook, or the time you ran away for three days,” he said. “Yeah, you were pretty fired up after both of those. It’d make since it was hard for Pan to push them down.”

I nodded. “I barely remember threatening Killian, and I can’t remember the other time at all. It’s so frustrating, I feel like I’m missing such an important part of myself. Especially knowing that Killian remembers all of them, you know?”

“Have you asked him about them?”

“Some, but he’s still hesitant to tell me. I don’t blame him, after all the times he tried to explain what Peter was doing to me.” I shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll remember them soon, it’ll just take some time.”

“Do you remember the day of my escape?” He asked.

“Was that when you tried to convince me Peter was drugging me, but I wouldn’t listen to you?” I asked. 

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure if they’d have thought to erase your memory. I guess Peter would have wanted to be careful, he knew I was your favorite.”

I shook my head. “They didn’t even give me an excuse, they just erased my memory of you leaving, and it worked. I was so far gone I didn’t even really register that you were missing.”

“I wanted to save you from Pan, but I didn’t know how to. I thought that if I could get away I’d be able to come up with a plan, but once I was gone there was no way to get back.”

“And you had a whole life ahead of you. I get it, Bae,” I said. “I’m not upset with you, you were just a kid. Anyway, it all worked out, Killian brought me home.”

“You can call me Neal, you know.”

I scrunched up my nose. “No, thanks.” I glanced back over my shoulder. “I’m going to walk with Killian, talk to you later.” He nodded and continued on, while I waited for Emma and Killian to catch up. 

Emma reached me first. “You and Neal have been talking a lot,” she noted.

I shrugged. “He used to have a crush on me back in the day, maybe he’s still carrying a torch for me.”

Emma opened her mouth, closed it, and then picked up her pace until she’d caught up with Bae. I laughed. “What was that about?” Killian asked.

I leaned up and pecked him on the cheek. “It was just a joke, don’t worry about it.”


End file.
